


Around Her Fingers

by Clairanette



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Biting, Bondage, Breeding, Dom/sub, Dom/sub Play, Domestic, Dominance, Dubious Consent, F/F, Fantasy, Fantasy- Freeform, Female-Centric, Femdom, Femslash, Fight Scene Choreography, Fingerfucking, Harems, Humiliation, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Sex, Lesbian Sex, Magic, Magical Pregnancy, Masochism, Master/Female Slave(s), Master/Pet, Master/Servant, Master/Slave, Miscarriage, Non-Sexual Submission, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Pack Bonding, Pack Dynamics, Pack Family, Pack Hierarchy, Pack Politics, Past Domestic Violence, Polyamorous Pack, Porn With Plot, Sadism, Service Submission, Sex Magic, Sexual Choreography, Sexual Slavery, Submission, Torture, light blood, lost pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 206,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26843194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clairanette/pseuds/Clairanette
Summary: A fearsome wendigo has been saving the final spot in her harem for someone special. Now that she's finally conquered the woods and claimed them as her own, Eia is determined to put the forest's former guardian in her proper place~
Relationships: Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 83
Kudos: 201





	1. Playing With Her Food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eia is more than just a mindless beast. But when the dryad hurts something she loves, the wendigo shows her just how ferocious she can be.

There are legends about these woods. 

Tales of countless young women being stolen from their homes, taken by a terrible monster, never to be heard from again. A horrible merciless fiend that terrorized these forests for centuries untold. A nightmarish creature, insatiable in it’s appetite, capable of tearing through flesh with it’s bare hands. 

A wendigo.

But Eia Madaerie was more than just a mindless beast. She was a massive, brawny, and terrifying creature, the type that no sane creature would ever think to pick a fight with, but she was no brute. She was cunning, elegant, and majestic. Creatures coming face to face with her for the first time would marvel at her unexpected beauty just as often as they would cower in fear of her awesome might. But the denizens of the forest hated her all the same. 

As intelligent and wise as they often grew to be, there was truth to those old legends. In their youth, wendigo are little more than hungry, ferocious, and savage animals. Not until they reach adulthood do they grow out of their barbaric frenzied ways. 

But those of her kind rarely lived to sexual maturity. The wendigo had been all but eradicated by the archfey. The guardians of the forests were sure to put an end to the beasts on sight, and the Eternal Hollow was no exception. 

Every moment of her early life had been a struggle for survival, and her body was covered in a half century’s worth of battle scars. Most gruesome of all was a deep gash on her belly, left by the most powerful being in the Eternal Hollow. 

↞✶↠

Brinia Alistora was a dryad, the protector of these forests and everything in them. Everything from the trees above and soils below, to the villages between them and everyone and everything that lived inside them, this was her domain, and it was under her protection.

These woods were home to all sorts of misfit creatures with nowhere to call their own, outcasts from a society that sought to oppress them. There were common creatures of course, humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and gnomes. But just as many exotic creatures called this place home as well, slimes, gargoyles, genies, minxes, sphinxes, merfolk, and pseudo-giants. If it still existed it could be found here in the Eternal Hollow. There was only one notable exception, the one race you almost surely wouldn’t find here were the hobgoblins.

The Eternal Hollow housed the village of Thorn, the largest settlement outside of the kingdom of Najistaire. Najistaire was a continent spanning kingdom, a hobgoblin empire, where the ruling race saw all others as inferior beings, treating them as little more than slaves, livestock, and objects to be owned. 

But Brinia was not like any of those creatures, Brinia had a place in the world, she had a place where she belonged, and it was here. She was born here, a spirit, an incarnation of the forest. 

She was known across her realm as Brinia, the Guardian Spirit of the Eternal Hollow. 

She was beautiful too, everyone in the village knew Brinia. She had a head of beautiful golden hair, her eyes were a deep forest green, she stood at just over six feet tall, and she carried around a wondrous artifact, a powerful staff capable of shaking the entire forest.

Her staff was imbued by the magic of the faerie, dryad’s were fey after all, and only an archfey like herself could access the magic of the staff. She was the only creature in the Eternal Hollow who could wield the Hollow’s Heart

Creatures fled to these endless woods to escape from the horrors of life as slaves to the neighboring military kingdom. The power Brinia wielded, the magic of the Hollow’s Heart, was the only thing that could protect the entire forest from being conquered by the looming might of the hobgoblin empire.

But Brinia didn’t realize that these woods belonged to the wendigo just as much as they belonged to her.

↞✶↠

A fully grown wendigo was driven by something much worse than their hunger. They were driven by the desire to breed. The adolescent creatures were terrifying monsters who walked on four legs, stalking and devouring any creature that crossed their path. Grown wendigo were far more horrifying. They were cunning beings who walked on two legs, looming over lesser creatures. They killed for fun, searching for maidens to tear away from their homes, dragging them screaming all the way back to their den, where they can rape and breed with them, forcing the helpless women to carry and give birth to their children before they moved on to their next victim. 

Eia Madaerie was looking for her next victim, but she didn’t think of the women she took as victims. She was a misunderstood creature, only doing what it took to ensure her kind survived. The women were taken against their will, but they were never killed or mistreated, at least not maliciously. As long as they bowed to her authority, there was no reason for harm to come upon them. 

The women were never heard from again, not because they were helplessly brutalized, raped, and devoured, but because they were kept. Like other wendigo, Eia kept a small harem of women in her possession, and each of them played a part in a complex web of roles enforced upon them. In a way, the wendigo’s harem is their family, and Eia was no exception.

From the waist down she looked almost like a monstrous rabbit, but from her hips on up was the body of a massive and muscular woman, her face hidden behind the skull of a deer, the wendigo’s antlers protruding from the where the dead animal’s own antlers once did.

Her large digitigrade feet landed hard on the soft forest floor, they were the legs of a giant hare, capable of pouncing on her prey with the speed of a mighty gazelle, the claws on her toes capable of tearing through flesh just as quickly. But the daggers on her hands were even more mortifying, her fingers long and slender, covered in deep black fur, claws like knives capable of ripping through skin and guts like they were jelly. 

Eia stretched her hand before her and gazed lovingly at the shining silver rings that adorned nine of her ten strong fingers. The glowed in the moonlight, small silver strings of magic trailing from each ring before fading into the night.

She was a ferocious and powerful creature, but she was fully capable of love and affection.

“Hold still Izona, you’re only making it worse.” The large woman lowered herself to one knee on the forest floor, leaning over a much smaller woman. She was holding one knee close to her chest, a large open gash across her thigh. 

Izona was flustered, a clear look of embarrassment painted over her face. “It’s one measly scratch, I’ll be fine.” 

Eia sternly wrapped her fingers around the Izona’s wrist, pulling her arms from the wound to get a closer look. It was clear to see that her first bride was desperate to stay by the wendigo’s side, but Eia saw no use in bringing a shrunken pseudo-giant out hunting if the girl couldn’t keep herself from getting hurt. “You’ve lost your edge Izona… Go home.”

Izona opened her mouth to protest before promptly realizing how little difference it would make, her Master was never one to negotiate with her slaves. “I… Yes Master…”

Eia helped her five foot tall bride to her feet, giving the miniature pseudo-giant a loving pat on the back. “If you can find her on your way back, see if Arleena will escort you to the post.”

Izona’s voice quivered in fear, she knew _exactly_ which post she was talking about. “A-are you sure, Master?”

Eia let out a low growl, annoyed at her bride’s reluctance. “You won’t be going outside and getting hurt once you’ve been pumped. Now return to your sisters.”

The wendigo gave her thrall a firm push, sending her on her way back home before continuing her hunt. She should have just brought Arleena along with her instead, at least the wraith was strong enough to keep herself from getting injured while hunting. Eia’s undead bride had undoubtedly gotten more hunting done tonight than even the wendigo herself. 

She had been too soft on Izona, favoring her handmaiden for the job even though she was clearly unsuited for the task. If she couldn’t do the job she was given, she was going to return to the waiting chamber and join her pregnant sisters, maybe giving birth to a few children would toughen her up. 

Eia stared at her hands for a few moments, gazing at the index finger of her right hand. Each of her brides had a collar around their neck that looked just like the rings around her fingers, and she had room for one more ring. 

↞✶↠

Eia was careful about where she chose to hunt, get too close to a small village or a trepid family of gnomes out in the forest somewhere and she was bound to send the lesser creatures fleeing in terror. If she wasn't cautious, she'd end up attracting the attention of the dryad.

Of course the dryad wasn't all that scary. Without her magic staff, Brinia was little more than a spring of healing. With the staff however, was a completely different story. Much like a wendigo's brides, the Hollow's Heart gravitated towards it's Master. The druidic artifacts often attached themselves to the most powerful faerie they could find, which in the case of the Eternal Hollow, was Brinia.

But it was the staff that brought out the potential in the dryad, not the other way around. Without the magic weapon, Brinia's turn as the guardian of these woods would quickly come to an end.

Eia didn't much care to have that happen. Brinia was a threat to her own power for sure, but she was a manageable threat. The dryad may have left scars on the wendigo in her times as a frenzied hellhound, but as an adult Eia had been untouchable. Even so, leading the archfey back to her brides would just be inviting trouble. Plus, the forest sprite served as a convenient wall preventing the neighboring hobgoblin empire from trampling over the entire forest and turning everyone and everything in it to dust.

_Including my brides._

Brinia had yet to cross that line. The faerie druid had put down a few of Eia's young in the past, but that was just the way of life for wendigo kits. There was a reason that they didn't form maternal bonds. They either learn not to pick fights they can't win, or they die trying.

But her brides were a different manner, those were precious to her, and she was going to protect them. _Fiercely._ A wendigo could have ten of them, but each and every one of them were as beloved as the last. 

Even if you wanted no part in your Master's affection, once a wendigo claimed you, you were _Hers. Forever._

Eia managed to take down a pretty large stag just before nightfall. It would have been nice to have Izona or Arleena here with her to tie up the kill and wrestle it back home so that the wendigo could continue her hunt, but this would have to do for tonight. 

_Arleena undoubtedly brought home more than this, I should have brought her with me._

She had just finished binding her prey up to drag it back home when she suddenly felt a sudden stinging pain in her right hand. A rather terrible torrent of it at that, one of her brides was in immense pain. Normally Eia was able to tell which of them was hurting based on what ring the sensation came from, but when the pain was this strong it was impossible to tell. It was like her entire hand was burning alive.

_Either someone is giving birth, or one of my brides is dying._

When one of her slaves was hurting, the connection between the bride and her respective ring informed their Master without fail, but the magical signal was often delayed when the distance to her mates was greater. 

Noriza could be giving birth and she very well might have missed it.

↞✶↠

Eia's den mother, Cerilla, was waiting for her Master outside when she arrived.

When a wendigo's harem eventually got big enough, she would often need to designate one of her brides as her den mother. It was the den mother's responsibility to be in charge of her sisters while her Master was away. 

And the hobgoblin was clearly the most suited for the job.

From the moment she saw her handler approaching, the den mother was on her knees, waiting for her Master’s acknowledgement before even gazing up to see her. 

“Speak. How is Noriza feeling?” 

Cerilla met her Master’s gaze, tilting her head up at the massive woman before her. “Noriza is well. She’s still in the waiting chamber, the baby could be coming any day now.”

“Is she? I was concerned I had missed the birth.” The wendigo mused at the rings on her right hand, the silver bands on each of them glowing. “Labor pains?”

“Last I had checked no, not yet.” The hobgoblin looked bewildered, unsure of what her Master was referring to. 

“Rise. Has Izona been taken to the breeding chamber?” Eia walked past the hobgoblin woman without looking down at her, dropping her catch from the day onto the forest floor and beginning to head into her den. _If not Noriza, then who?_

“She returned with Arleena not too long ago.” Cerilla bit her bottom lip in annoyance, impatiently answering her Master’s questions, very obviously having something important to bring to her attention as she followed the wendigo inside. “Are you sure it wise to send Izona to the breeding post? You’ll need to replace her as handmaiden, and Noriza is very much still pregnant.” 

“Noriza is always pregnant, that’s her role. As for a handmaiden, I will have Arleena take Izona’s place. Now did she help her sister to the breeding post or not?”

“About that, Master. Something happened today.” 

“What happened that is so important that it simply can’t wait until you’ve answered my questions.”

“It’s Arleena. She’s hurt.”

Eia turned to face her den mother, making eye contact with her for the first time. “How hurt?”

“Izona brought her back in a hurry, Master, she’s hideously injured. She looks awful, Master… we might...” Cerilla stopped in her tracks, swallowing nervously, her eyes darting across the room towards one of the other chambers. “We might lose her…”

The wendigo remembered the terrible pain she had received earlier, her gaze instantly drawn back to the rings on her right hand, directly to her ring finger. _Arleena’s ring._

_Fuck._

“What happened?! How’d she get hurt?!” Eia stomped toward the inner chambers in a rage. _She’s my strongest gatherer, what sort of creature could possibly contend with Arleena and win?_

“It was the dryad.” 

Eia stopped just outside of the recovery chamber, turning back to face her den mother.

_That bitch._

_Alistora finally crossed the fucking line._

“Tend to your sister. Do whatever you can to help her, make sure she’s still alive when I return.” Eia turned around, starting back into the forest. _That bitch is going to pay for this with her life._

“I’ll come with you!” Cerilla quickly followed after her, directly on the wendigo’s heel.

Eia turned around and growled at the den mother, glaring down at the smaller creature. “You will stay here and fulfill your role.”

The hobgoblin shrunk in place, looking up at her Master’s enraged eyes beating down upon her. “I just don’t want you to get hurt… Master…”

“What is your role, Cerilla?” Eia asked impatiently, reaching out with her left hand and brushing it against the girl’s hair, her claws threatening to slice through her.

Unable to look up at her Master anymore, Cerilla’s gaze nervously drifted downward, towards the soft forest floor. “I’m the den mother.”

Eia’s hand drifted downwards with her slave, putting one finger under the girl’s chin and forcing her eyes back upwards her Master. “Yes you are, and what are you expected to do?”

Cerilla bit her lip even harder, her pointed hobgoblin teeth digging into her skin as she looked back up at the wendigo. “To look after my sisters while you’re away...”

Cerilla couldn’t see it, but Eia was smiling behind that mask as she moved her hand from beneath the hobgoblin’s chin, resting it atop her head and patting her gently. “And you’re the best den mother I could ever ask for. Now, be a good girl and do as you’re told. Your Master will be home soon… I promise.”

The den mother melted at her Master’s words, her nervous frown quickly turning into a proud grin, having so many things she wished to say, but unable to find the words to say any of them. “Yes Master…”

_Good girl. I’ve trained you well._

Eia stomped her way past the prey she’d brought home once again, leaving her bride to watch her Master head back out into the night, watching intently until the wendigo was out of sight. “Come on dryad…”

↞✶↠

Eia ran.

Her head and her heart filled with an insatiable rage, she ran as fast as she could toward the village. _Toward that bitch._

As the village grew nearer, the wendigo let out a ferocious howl. It was a sound like no other, a scream that pierced through the silence of the night, a terrible otherworldly shriek. The fearsome blood curdling screech was louder than any other sound in the forest, a telltale sign that the beast was approaching. The wendigo was approaching.

It was unlike her to announce her presence like this, she had always been careful to never draw the archfey directly towards her, coveting the safety of her brides first and foremost. 

But Eia had no plan to sneak into the village and kidnap a new victim in the middle of the night. 

She wasn’t here to claim a new bride. She came for blood. _Brinia’s blood._

There were screams all around her. Mortified creatures running from their homes, fleeing in terror from the coming onslaught of the giant monster. The screams of horror in the streets were sure to bring the forest’s guardian directly to her, if the monstrous roar of the nightmarish fiend hadn’t already done so.

Which it had. 

Eia hardly had time to notice the dryad descending on her from the rooftops above, slamming the holy weapon down upon the wendigo’s head and slamming her into the ground where she stood. Not only did Brinia have the magic of the forest in her belt, but her punches packed a severe wallop.   
She stumbled to her feet, just barely dodging out of the way of what would have been a fatal charged stab to her jugular. Brinia grunted in annoyance, having hoped to get the jump on the beast and land a killing blow early with a sneak attack. 

The wendigo licked her lips, slashing at the dryad, slamming her terrible horrible claws into her staff, forcing the shorter woman to block. 

Holding the staff above her to block the strike, Brinia lowered herself towards the ground, and in a single split second she had let go of the staff, lunging forward between the wendigo’s legs as the beast tumbled forward. She was more nimble than Eia could hope to be.

Before the wendigo could turn to face her, Brinia had leapt off the ground, quickly scaling the monster’s back. The forest spirit grabbed at the base of each of Eia’s antlers, pulling the creature’s head back.

Eia was simply _elated_. The force of her neck swinging backwards sent her reality spinning, her mask flinging from her face onto the ground. Suddenly, Eia and Brinia were intimately close, their faces mere inches from each other. They glared deeply into each other's eyes.

There were emotions on both of those faces that only the two of them could hope to understand.

While the beast was bent over backwards, Brinia clung to the wendigo’s antlers, using them to swing her body into the monster’s back, wrapping her legs tight around Eia’s torso.

The dryad let go of her opponent’s antlers, reaching her hands out from beneath the beast’s armpits. She forced her staff towards herself, bringing the wendigo’s arms with it, pulling the weapon against Eia’s throat like a chokehold. Eia could literally feel her opponent breathing down her neck, the dryad’s face close enough to her neck for her to feel the warm air leaving her lips. Eia struggled against the pull of the staff for a few moments, before letting go, relenting control over the implement long enough for the archfey to pull her into a chokehold.

Then she lurched forward, landing on all fours. The druid had succeeded in gaining the upper hand, but Eia wasn’t about to let her win so easily. She grinned, using the force of all four of her limbs to quickly propel her directly towards the wall of a nearby building.

Eia couldn’t see the forest nymph’s face, but the look Brinia gave when she realized that her mount was going to send them soaring straight through a brick wall was one of pure shock and awe. She grunted loudly, unlocking her legs' iron grip around the fiend’s torso and letting go of the staff, hoping to leap to the ground in time to avoid being slammed head first into a building. 

But as soon as she let go, the monster slid to a halt, bucking the smaller woman off of her and sending her crashing into the wall ahead of her, taking great pleasure in finally seeing the shocked look on Brinia’s face.

She tumbled to the ground, slamming into the soft soil floor of the street beneath her, struggling to catch her breath. The skull mask the wendigo had been wearing rattled against the ground beside her, as she watched the beast quickly approach her.

In the blink of an eye, the monster was upon her, Eia slammed one knee down on top of the girl’s chest, grabbing her throat with one hand and pinning the poor creature to the ground beneath her.

In a moment of desperation, Brinia made her last move. She held out her hand, calling on the magic of the staff and sending the mythical artifact soaring through the air straight towards her grasp. 

The staff crackled and pulsed with magical energy, delivering itself into the waiting hand of her opponent. 

Eia glared down at her prey, her eyes filled with bloodthirsty rage. She held the weapon of her enemy, pressing it against her enemies throat.

The dryad gazed up at her in awe and horror. Brinia had worked so hard to defend the Eternal Hollow from the forces that threatened to tear it down. 

Maybe it was someone else’s turn. 

Brinia closed her eyes, letting the Wendigo take her. 

In that final moment before taking her life, Eia stopped, setting the staff back down on the ground, and taking a good look at the helpless dryad beneath her. 

Eia took her beautiful blonde hair into her hand, and began to twirl her single unadorned finger in Brinia’s hair. After a few moments, the dryad opened her eyes once again, staring helplessly at the creature atop of her, but before she could speak, Eia retracted her menacing claws for the first time, and sent her fist crashing into the dryad’s skull, knocking her unconscious. 

Eia’s heart was racing. The thrill of the hunt had overtaken her, and in the heat of the struggle she had let her face be revealed to the enemy. Alistora had seen a part of the wendigo that Eia had always concealed, and in doing so she became more than just prey. The intimacy that the two combatants shared in those few instants had stirred emotions in her. The druid had gotten so close to her in just a few short seconds. When the mask came off the encounter was no longer the mindless attack of a hungry monster, it was a fit of passion.

The battle had caused quite a disturbance, and a crowd was beginning to form around the aftermath of the attack as villagers were drawn to the commotion. Her ferocious roar was sure to scatter the faint of heart, but the longer she stayed the more likely it was for a few of the more brave souls to come charging into their certain death. 

Eia reached down beside the unconscious quarry and retrieved her mask, now deeply cracked by the intensity of the guardian’s vicious surprise attack. Eia once again veiled her true self from the world around her, the image of her face now fundamentally changed in the eyes of those who witnessed it. She put up a good fight, but in the end Eia came out on top, not unscathed, but victorious. The onlookers would see nothing more than a crack in Eia’s mask, a permanent reminder that the wendigo had defeated the dryad, but she had let the dryad see past that. 

Eia knew she needed to leave before she gave herself away, but still she found herself staring down at her prize, fixated on the archfey. 

_What had Alistora thought when she saw what was behind the mask? What thoughts must have been going through her head? What happens to her now?_

Brinia had gazed directly into her eyes. In those final few moments she must have realized that she hadn’t been fighting a monster, she had been fighting a person. Eia Madaerie was a person, just like everyone else in this village, just like Alistora herself. The dryad didn’t realize it, but she and the wendigo were a lot more alike than she had thought. More than Alistora ever could have known. 

Eia once again gripped the staff in her hand, feeling the unbridled power of the magical weapon. She held the Hollow’s Heart in one hand, pointing it at Brinia Alistora. With her own powerful archfey magic, she commanded the full power of her trophy’s former staff. In an instant, magical restraints sprouted from the ground beneath the sleeping dryad, binding her in vines.

Having subdued her adversary, the wendigo stood. She lifted the lesser archfey over her shoulder, and with the dryad in hand, she began her triumphant journey back home.

The dryad didn’t realize that this place belonged to the wendigo just as much as it had belonged to her. 

These woods were just as much Eia’s as they were Brinia’s.

No.

_These woods belong to me now._

_And so does Brinia Alistora._


	2. A New Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wendigo decides to give Brinia a chance to fight for what she loves. But the dryad doesn’t realize that everything Eia wants is already in her grasp.

“Is she still alive?”

Cerilla wasn’t sure that she even wanted the wendigo to return. She had no idea exactly what would have happened if the dryad had ended up winning, but still she was unsure of what outcome she was hoping for. Eia had taken many of her brides, including the hobgoblin, against their will. But seeing her Master bring home the forest spirit was shocking, even to her. 

“What are you even planning on doing to her?”

“Breaking her, of course.” Eia marvelled over the unconscious Brinia, now bound and gagged by ropes and cloths, secured inside of the wendigo’s private chamber. “I haven’t finished my fun quite yet.”

“To what end, Master? You’ve already stripped her of her magic power, how long do you plan on keeping her alive just to punish her? Wouldn’t it be better to do away with her here and now?” 

“As my den mother, I do appreciate your input Cerilla, but I implore you to remember your place, especially in matters concerning pleasure~” Eia stopped for a moment, reaching towards the sleeping archfey and stroking her golden hair. “I may have stripped and disarmed her, but the dryad still has some magic left in her. Alistora’s natural healing is sure to have her at full health soon enough.”

“But isn’t that all the more reason to take care of her  _ now? _ ” Cerilla continued to protest, not learning from her mistake. 

Disappointedly, Eia shook her head, finally pulling her hand away from sleeping beauty. “Oh Cerilla darling, don’t you think a mighty creature such as her might be more useful to us alive?”

“Howso Ma’am?”

“Your sister might be stable now, but she’s no use to me in the condition she was left in… and she may be that way for a while…”

“You think you can convince the dryad to heal Arleena?”

“I think the druid will find it in her best interest to do so, yes… And now that the guardian is here, there’s no one to stop your Master from swooping in and stealing away another village girl~” Eia stared down at her quarry, unable to keep her eyes off of her for more than a few seconds. She knew that she could very well kidnap another innocent village woman without any resistance, but she didn’t want to. Now that she had captured Brinia Alistora, she didn’t need to. “Besides… Alistora is a useful deterrent… We wouldn’t want those irksome hobgoblins to come stomping their way into the forest, would we Cerilla?”

“I know I wouldn’t mind…” The hobgoblin den mother bit her tongue, trying her best not to say anything else that might get her in trouble with her caring but pitiless Master.

Eia smirked, seeing the pain on the poor girl's face as she remembered her life before her enslavement, knowing the misery the hobgoblin must be feeling pleased her immensely. Still, she made sure to gently caress her poor bride’s face, she wasn’t trying to make her den mother cry. “Such a good girl…” She smiled at the girl for a few moments, pulling her hand away from Cerilla and lifting the mask from her face, before leaning in and planting a soft kiss on her bride’s forehead. “Master loves you.”   
Cerilla sighed, her cheeks turning red as she blushed. “I love you too, Master.”

Eia smiled and turned back to the unconscious Brinia, licking her lips eagerly. “Now begone from my chamber. I have work to do.”

Cerilla stammered, glancing out of the chamber. “What about Izona, Ma’am?”

“What  _ about  _ Izona?” Eia mouthed back, impatiently.

“She’s been waiting for you in the breeding chamber all evening, Master.”

“And she can continue to wait. She is my most loyal and patient slave.” The wendigo once again ran her fingers through the dryad’s radiant hair. “Far more patient than you or I…”

Cerilla lowered her head, looking down at the floor of the chamber in shame. “My apologies, Ma’am.”

Eia shot one last glance at the girl, growling under her breath. “Now  _ leave, _ before I hurt us both… the druid will be awake soon…”

“Yes Master.” With that, the den mother turned and headed back into the rest of the den, leaving her Master to her own machinations. 

Once she was gone, the wendigo turned her attention again to the unconscious archfey. “Let’s put a few hexes on you, shall we?”

↞✶↠

Brinia could feel the magic around her when she awoke. 

The magic of nature within her should have healed her injuries in just a few hours, but her body was still sore. She could feel the bruises she had received after being flung into a brick wall, and the cuts and gashes from the monster’s claws still stung.

She tried opening her eyes to check her surroundings, but she had been blindfolded. Her arms were folded by her back and securely restrained, wrapped in some manner of box tie. Her legs were bent at the knee, thighs and calves tied together. Her mouth was stuffed with some sort of leather gag, keeping her from speaking. The floor beneath her was solid and firm, forcing her to point her toes behind her.

Eia took a moment just to watch the poor girl squirm, positioning herself in front of her captive. She sat on the edge of her bed, looking down at the helpless dryad kneeling on the floor before her. 

She reached beneath the dryad’s chin, tilting her head upward with her fingers. The captive archfey immediately whined, whipping her head away from Eia’s grasp. The wendigo’s smile faded briefly. She reached towards Alistora’s once again, this time firmly pinching the girl’s chin between her naked index finger and her thumb, tilting her head up to face her again. 

Brinia was still and silent, her gaze fixed in the position that Eia’s soft hands had left it in, unmoving. The wendigo smiled, taking in the view of her most recent catch.  _ Perfect. _

As she slowly pulled her hand away Alistora remained still, her posture was controlled, disciplined. Like many archfey, she had a sense of grace and elegance that came naturally to her. Even as she sat motionless, her movements were refined. 

Careful not to graze the woman’s skin with her claws, Eia gently placed the bottom of her foot onto the dryad, letting her feel the wendigo’s soft skin on top of her thigh. She slowly but firmly pushed her foot between the woman’s legs, spreading them apart, smiling eagerly as she heard Brinia’s breath grow heavier. As soon as she took her foot off of her quarry’s thigh, she was once again perfectly still.  _ Very good. _

Leaning further over the edge of her bed, Eia gently placed her foot just below the dryad’s navel, tracing her toes along the length of rope that dug into the girl’s skin. Having removed the faerie’s clothes, the wendigo took in the sight of the dryad’s fully exposed cunt, soft and unspoiled. She was pleased to see that much like Eia herself, the forest spirit had one, even if neither of the archfey needed them under normal circumstances. The wendigo planned on putting her little quim to good use. 

She traced her big toe all the way down to the girl’s labia, revelling in watching the dryad shiver. As she gently began to press her foot inside of the poor dryad, the woman’s composure broke, her quiet and controlled posture breaking as she jerked her head away and squeezed her legs together in an instant. 

Eia sighed, mildly annoyed but unsurprised. A little bit of force was always necessary when breaking in her prey. She wrapped her fingers around Alistora’s throat, applying just enough pressure to both readjust the woman’s posture and assert her dominance in the situation. She forcefully pushed the girl’s thighs apart, spreading her legs open like a book. The wendigo gently tapped her claws against the skin of her throat, making sure that Brinia Alistora knew who was in charge. 

“Mmph…” The dryad whined, breathing heavily as she felt her predator’s grasp tighten around her throat. She could tell that resisting would do nothing for her in her current position. She pinched her eyes shut behind the blindfold, biting her lips as she felt what she presumed was her captor’s soft toe push past her labia. She did her best to keep silent, but she couldn’t manage to keep herself from letting out a soft whimper. 

Eia found her other hand making it’s way to her own labia, the excitement of watching the dryad fold beneath her will tempted her to play with herself. The wendigo reproduced magically, but she was glad that she had what was between her legs, if only so that she could take pleasure in the satisfaction of conquering inferior creatures.

After a few moments, Eia pulled herself from inside of the creature’s cunt, letting her close her legs. Brinia felt the wendigo pull her hand away from her throat. Sitting in perfect silence, all she felt was the absence of her captor inside of her, then just a few moments later she could smell the scent of her own pussy in front of her nose. The wendigo pressed her toe against the dryad’s still gagged lips, forcing the girl to take in her own scent for just a moment. Eia smiled, setting her foot back down on the floor before lifting her other leg and placing it on the back of the smaller fey’s head. Alistora followed the scent of her own vulva all the way to the floor as her captor pressed down on her, forcing her forehead to the floor. 

Satisfied for now, Eia protracted the claws of her foot, sliding her other big toe between the dryad’s head and the leather gag that kept her silent. “Try not to squirm too terribly, I was up all night putting those enchantments on you.” In one quick slice, her claw tore through the gag, letting it fall to the ground beneath the dryad’s face. “I wouldn’t want all of that hard work to go to waste.”

Brinia scoffed, readjusting her mouth to the feeling of not being gagged. She didn’t recognize the voice, but whoever it was that she was now dealing with, they knew what they were doing. Unlike her elegant and graceful posture, her voice was filled with vitriol. “And to whom exactly am I speaking?”

“I will be the one asking the questions here, dryad.” Eia firmly pressed down on the back of the girl’s head, pushing her forehead further into the firm floor beneath her for a few moments before lifting her foot completely. “Let us start there shall we? What’s your name?”

Brinia grinded her teeth for a couple of seconds, trying to discern her captor’s identity and intentions before giving away any information about herself. “Gala. Gala Nestrie-”

Before she could finish, the wendigo cut her lie short, bringing her foot back down on the girl’s head and forcibly slamming it back into the ground below her. “Do you really think it wise to lie to your captors? Is that what you’ve been taught?” Eia scoffed at the girl, picking her foot back up before trying again. “What’s your name?”

“Alistora.” The captured archfey fumed, lifting her head back up.

“Close enough~” Eia crossed her legs again, shaking her head at the girl, even if she couldn’t see it. “You have an awful lot of bruises and scrapes on that picturesque little body of yours, we wouldn’t want to do any more damage~”

Brinia paused for a few moments as she tried to catch her breath. The guardian knew everyone in the Eternal Hollow, yet still she couldn’t recognize the woman’s voice. Clearly she wasn’t talking to some beast or terrible spirit. Unless there were people living in the abandoned stretches of the forest plagued by the fogs, she must be speaking with someone from outside of the woods.  _ Hobgoblins?  _

“How did you get those injuries anyways. Powerful faeries like yourself are supposed to heal aggressively fast. You must have really gotten your plump little ass handed to you.”

Brinia groaned angrily. How dare they take advantage of what the monster had done to her in order to take her out of commission. Normally, she could take a band of hobgoblins no problem, but with the hexes placed on her, she was no more dangerous to her captor than a fly. “If you know my name already, then surely you should be aware of what happened. Especially if you were waiting for the monster to do your dirty work for you.”

Eia smirked, placing the bottom of her foot on the girl’s skull once again and firmly but slowly lowering her head back to the ground beneath her. “Answer the question.”

“I was taken out by the wendigo. Happy?” How dare the wendigo leave her alive in the first place, forcing her to endure this humiliation. 

“Very.” Eia grinned mischievously, letting her lift her head once again. “Now as you can probably assume, now that you’re no longer there to protect them, you’re precious little forest is in danger.”

Brinia swallowed nervously, unable to think of what all might be happening to them right now. 

“You are aware that a settlement of lesser creatures like them are sure to be completely annihilated and sold into slavery to the people of Najistaire, yes?” 

Brinia bit her lip, choking back angry shouting. “I am.”

“And you’re aware that  _ protecting _ such a settlement, if you were found guilty of it, is an imperial felony… And can end up in diabolical consequences?” 

She was wracking her brain to try and find some way out of this, but she couldn’t think straight. “What are you planning on doing to them?!”

Eia silenced her. “ **_I_ ** ask the questions,  _ Brinia Alistora. _ ” The wendigo stomped the dryad’s head to the floor once again, very nearly drawing blood. “You have no idea who you are messing with do you, young lady?”

Brinia gasped in pain, shaking her head. Even in her agony all she could think of was the safety of her people. “You can’t hurt them… Please…”

“I can do whatever I want to them, Alistora… they belong to  _ me  _ now… this forest and everything in it belongs to me now, do you understand that?” Eia giggled at the poor woman as she lifted her foot again, revelling in tormenting her. “And if you can’t manage to keep it together, you won’t be hearing from them ever again.”

Brinia bit her lip and nodded, her head still firmly planted in the ground, unable to find words to respond with. Eia grinned hungrily, sliding her foot beneath the poor girl’s chin and lifting her head upward. “Open your mouth.”

Brinia scoffed at her and shook her head slightly, but after a moment she seemed to soften slightly. The dryad relented, and before her captor had time to slam her face back into the dirt, she opened her mouth for the woman. Eia licked her lips, picking her other foot up off of the ground, big toe still covered in the juices of the dryad’s sweet little cunt. Before Alistora even had time to smell the scent of her own fruit, she felt her captor’s toe push past her lips, her mouth gently closing around it. “I shouldn’t need to guide you step by step, you little whore.” 

The archfey didn’t want to, but she knew what she needed to do. After just a moment, she bit back her pride and anger and began to gently suck on her kidnapper’s toe, begrudgingly enjoying the taste of her own fruity liquids for just a few moments. 

When she was done, the wendigo pulled her feet away from the smaller girl, reaching out with her hand and giving the girl a soft pat on the head.  _ Good girl. _ “Now Brinia Alistora… I assume you would like to sit down and negotiate for the safety of your little society here in the forest?” 

Mortified by what she had to do to get to this point, Brinia nodded, wanting more than anything to make sure her people were safe. “I would, yes... “ She sighed, taking a deep breath and bracing herself. “Please.”

“Let’s get you untied and dressed then.” Eia reached out with both hands, getting ready to remove the former guardian’s blindfold. “I will warn you… you might not like what you see.”

↞✶↠

Brinia’s entire world shattered. 

She blinked, trying to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. 

_ It’s the wendigo. _

“I may be a monster… but I assure you I am anything but a mindless beast.”

“How…” Brinia bit her lip nervously, staring at Eia in shock and disbelief, the wendigo’s face hidden behind her cracked and damaged skull mask. “How in the world is this even possible…” 

“Take a moment to collect your thoughts. I’m sure you have many many questions bouncing around in that little brain of yours, but I think you’ll be more comfortable if we get those ropes off of you first.” Eia smiled at the smaller archfey, turning the girl in place and beginning to work at the ropes restraining Alistora’s arms. 

Dumbfounded, the dryad sat there in stunned silence, feeling the ropes keeping her arms in place slowly loosen. Once even a single arm was free, Brinia found herself instinctively lashing out at the wendigo. Eia let out a low growl, catching the smaller girl’s wrist in her hand. 

“Behave. We haven’t gotten to negotiations yet.” Brinia felt the monster breathing down her throat, and for the first time in her adult life the dryad genuinely felt as if she was the smaller, weaker,  _ inferior _ creature. 

Alistora trembled, holding both arms over her head once they were free. For several minutes Brinia waited as the wendigo stood up from the edge of her bed, leaving to retrieve garments for the dryad. Eia slipped the guardian’s confiscated cloak over her head, letting the dryad get comfortable in it. 

Eia seated herself on the floor across from Brinia, the forest guardian’s former staff clutched in hand, watching the girl shake as she noticed it. “Palms face down on the floor, I don’t want to see them so much as twitch.”

“What exactly is this about, fiend?” Brinia was grinding her teeth again, coming to terms with the humanity of the monster before her, her gaze locked onto the Hollow’s Heart even as she did what she was told. 

“One question at a time, dryad. But first…” Brinia tilted her head in confusion, watching the wendigo place the staff down flat on the floor between them. “Make a move for that staff, and the innocents are as good as fish food.”

Her magical staff was just a couple of inches from her fingers, the wendigo’s enchantments may have been powerful, but if she could get a hold of the weapon it wouldn’t matter. It would only be a matter of whose reflexes were faster. It didn’t make sense for her captor to just give her such a clear shot at the artifact. “What’s the meaning of placing my trusted weapon in front of me like this, Wendigo?”

“Like I said, one question at a time.” The wendigo stared into the girl’s eyes, making absolutely certain she had the dryad’s complete and total attention. “As to whom exactly you’ve been speaking with, my name is not ‘Wendigo’, it’s Eia Madaerie.” She leaned forward, glaring into the archfey’s scared eyes. “Or, as those who have dealt with me in the past call me, Master.”

Brinia almost chuckled in disbelief, how dare a gruesome monster like the one in front of her possibly try to demand respect from anyone.

“As for what I plan on doing to your precious villagers… Nothing, as long as you cooperate with me, and do as you’re told. That is, the Hollow’s Heart is going to sit right there while we talk. You are going to keep your hands flat on the ground, palms down, right where they are… and if you touch that staff, there will be serious consequences.” Eia motioned down to the staff, mere inches from the poor girl’s fingertips. “Is that clear young lady?”

Brinia scoffed furiously, curling her hands into fists. “Drop the young lady talk, beast… I refuse to be treated like anything less than what I am. Brinia Alistora. Druidic archfey, guardian of these woods and everything in them.”

“Not right now you aren’t…” The wendigo giggled to herself, reaching her right hand towards the dryad and curling her index finger in the girl’s beautiful blonde locks. “You’re a smart woman. You’re pragmatic, knowing just as well as I do what position you are in… Your words say one thing, but your actions say another. That’s why your hands are still firmly in place where you were told to keep them… Even if you can’t manage to keep them flat like I instructed.” Eia placed her hands on top of the faerie’s and began to forcibly uncurl them, turning her giggling onto Alistora, mocking her in her face. “Right now, I own these woods and everything in them… it’s your job to do as I say… And you know that.”

_ Don’t let her get to you like this Alistora.  _ Brinia let the larger woman uncurl her fists, pressing her flat palms into the floor as hard as she could. “And if I do as you say, you promise you’ll return the staff to me and agree not to harm a soul.”

“I promise that if you do as I say, we will come to some sort of an agreement, yes.” Eia grinned, pulling her hands away from Brinia’s. “Do we have a deal, dryad?”

“Deal.” Brinia nodded, looking up at the wendigo’s eyes again. “What are your demands?”

“Slow down Alistora… We’ll get to that once we both understand what’s going on here.” The wendigo reached up and took her mask in one hand, slowly placing it down onto the ground beside the staff.    
Brinia remembered seeing that face in the heat of battle, but in the strife she hadn’t realized that Eia Madaerie was more than just a hungry monster. Her face looked mostly human, her nose and mouth were very slightly angular and pointed, but not very noticeably unless one was paying close attention. Like a jackal, behind those lips were a set of sharp teeth and fangs, and her ears were pointed and on top of her head instead of on either side. “Do you have any idea what prompted me to attack last night?”

The dryad raised her eyebrows. “I assumed it was to steal another helpless girl away… like always.”

“While normally that would be true… I wouldn’t be so brash as to announce myself like I did…” The wendigo furled her eyebrows angrily, growly at the archfey. “Last night you damaged something that belongs to me.”

“So you came for me, then?” Brinia was almost honored. “You came because you wanted revenge, is that it?”

“Smart girl. I could have killed you if I wanted to, you realize that?” Eia’s expression relaxed, smiling smugly at the little forest imp. She didn’t need to wait for a response from the dryad, she got all that she wanted from the look on her face. “But I decided you’d be more useful alive.”

Alistora shuffled in place, careful not to move her hands from the floor. “What is that supposed to mean…”

“If you want me to spare the lives of all those men and women in that precious little village of yours, all you need to do is give yourself to me.”

“Give myself?!” Brinia could feel her hands tremble, but still she held steadfast. “Like all of those village girls you’ve taken away?!” 

Eia smiled and lifted her hand again, placing her palm on Brinia’s cheek, feeling the warmth of the girl’s blush. Brinia’s face was hot with rage however, her calm and cool demeanor was beginning to give way for a torrent of fury. “And what happens to my people once you’ve killed and devoured me, who’s going to protect them once I’m dead?!” 

In an instant, the dryad’s face was set aflame with pain as the wendigo struck the girl across the face, threatening to knock her to the ground. 

“Watch your tone, Alistora.... as you’ll learn, I have no intention to kill you, dryad.” Eia cradled the girl’s chin in her hand, gazing into her eyes and smiling. 

“Then what…” Brinia shook her head, barely managing to keep the rest of her body still and composed in the face of this ferocious monster. “What happens to me…”

“You are to become my slave.” 

The word stung her ears. Just thinking about becoming a slave made her heart ache. For all of her life she’d been fighting to protect her people from an empire that sought to enslave them, the last thing she was going to do now was give in and pledge her life as someone’s slave. 

“There must be some other way…”

“I’m afraid not, dryad… I spared your life for one reason alone, and that was to sit at my side and serve as my slave for the rest of your days.” Eia giggled, it was always cute to watch girls like her try to bargain for their freedom, but no woman had ever escaped the wendigo’s grasp. “Would you rather sit and watch the destruction of your people firsthand?”

Brinia bit her lip, the aching in her chest hurt worse than any wound that she’d received from the wendigo. She took pride in what she did, she wanted to do whatever it took to protect her people. She couldn’t stand the thought of bowing down and becoming someone’s slave after decades of protecting the Eternal Hollow. But the thought of forcing the people that she protected was an even worse fate than giving herself away. “Is there really no other way?”

“I’m afraid not, darling…” Eia enjoyed watching the gears tick inside of Alistora’s head. The girl was smart enough to know now that the wendigo outmatched her in every way. If she gave in, Eia would be just as capable of protecting the Eternal Hollow as Brinia, if not better. But if she didn’t give in, she would have to fight just to protect them from the wendigo’s wrath. “You should be able to tell first hand the kind of magic that I’m capable of… If you choose to serve me, they’ll be in good hands.”

Her staff was right there, all she would need to do is reach out and grab it, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t bear to think of what would happen if she lost to the wendigo again. She couldn’t defeat Eia even at her full strength, how could she hope to defeat her with her current injuries, in the wendigo’s own home. “All of them will be spared?”

Eia nodded and smirked. “They’ll be in my hands.”

“If you promise that they’ll be safe and protected… and you let them be… then I agree to your terms.” The dryad took a deep breath, collecting herself before continuing. “I just don’t understand why you want to keep  _ me _ alive… What happened to the other girls you stole?”

Eia giggled and shook her head, trying to reassure the dryad that everything was going to be okay. “I still have them, of course… they’re still alive, and here with me as we speak~”

Eia’s words seemed to have the opposite effect as she had intended on the dryad. She had always assumed that the wendigo killed and devoured every woman that it stole, and she was shocked and disgusted to find out that the wendigo had forced them to serve under her as well. “Release them too and you’ll have my full cooperation.”

Eia snarled at the dryad’s insolence, her excitement quickly shifting to annoyance. “I’m afraid those girls are not part of our little deal.”   
“Then make them part of the deal, please.” The dryad lowered her head, pleading for the other woman to release them.

“Why should I give up something that already belongs to me?” Eia laughed at the sheer absurdity of it. “Those girls belong to me… Their freedom is not on the table…”

“Their lives are not toys to be played with!” Alistora continued to beg, wanting nothing more than to make sure that all of her people were safe, even the ones that the dryad had long assumed to be gone. “I’m giving up my own life, what more do you want?”

“It’s your life for the lives of the villagers, and nothing else!!” Unable to keep entertaining the dryad’s tiresome demands, the wendigo growled at her, Eia’s angry voice echoing through the entire chamber. “I will not be giving up anything that is already mine, my brides will continue to belong to me, and you will join them.” She stood up, looming over the smaller woman as she growled angrily. “Final offer, Alistora. What’s it going to be?!”

  
“Let them go, Eia. I’m begging you.” Brinia lunged forward, clutching her staff in both hands. “If you won’t let them go… I’ll have to make you…”

The wendigo snarled at the girl, seeing the staff pointing up at her. “It would seem like you’ve made your choice then… such a shame, you were being so obedient…”

The dryad’s hands shook, she was pointing the staff at the beast but nothing was happening.    
_ Something is wrong. _

Eia laughed at her, enjoying the look of terror that was quickly spreading across her face. “As if I’d just lay your super powerful magic staff in front of you if I thought there was even a chance that you could use it against me. I’m not an imbecile~”

Brinia choked back a sob, trying not to fall apart in the face of a terrifying monster. “You mean it’s not real…”

“I assure you that the staff you hold in your hands right now is very much the real deal~” Eia giggled, shaking her head at the dryad, who was very nearly breaking into tears just listening to her. 

“But how?! How can your enchantments be stronger than the Hollow’s Heart?!” She held her staff to her heart, squeezing onto it for mental and physical support.

“Foolish dryad… My hexes are no stronger than what the staff is capable of~” She towered over the girl, taking the dryad’s golden hair into her hand once again. “They don’t need to be~”

“Then how…” She bit her lip, tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes as she cowered beneath the monster’s grasp.

“Poor Brinia… where do you think my hexes came from?” The wendigo held out her hand, and watched the pain in Alistora’s eyes as the magic of the staff ripped itself from her hands once again, delivering itself into the waiting hands of the wendigo. “It’s grown rather attached to me… it would seem that it’s found a new master.”

Brinia’s hands trembled, she wanted to stand up and take the staff back from her captor but she was frozen in disbelief. “But how could it… You can’t use it unless you’re-”

“An archfey~” Eia clutched the staff in just one hand where Brinia needed to use two, pointing it at the lesser archfey and magically dissipating the ropes that still bound her legs. “Just like the woods themself, the Hollow’s Heart belongs to  _ me  _ now.” 

Brinia hung her head in shame, digging her nails into the skin of her legs. “Please make it quick… Just kill me…”

“Oh don’t worry, I will.” The wendigo cackled eagerly. “But not before I slaughter everyone you love before your very eyes.” She placed the end of the staff beneath Brinia’s chin, lifting her head up to look at her once again.

“Now come along Alistora, I have a village to massacre.”


	3. Bridal Vows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Powerless to stand up to the wendigo, the people Brinia loves are now at the monster’s mercy, her only hope is to somehow earn a second chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a short one, but only because I had to split the last chapter up into two parts, please enjoy~!

“You tricked me.” 

Her veins pumping with ire, Brinia stared along the length of her staff up to the woman pointing it at her. She felt angry and humiliated, but most of all she felt betrayed. 

“You already have everything you want, why even negotiate when there’s no way I can win?”

“We were negotiating your terms of surrender, dear.” The wendigo tightened her grip on the staff, using it to hold the dryad’s chin up. “I was offering to take care of your precious _people_... At a great cost to me no less.” 

“Then please, let me offer myself for their safety!!” Brinia gripped the end of the staff with both of her hands, neither pushing or pulling on it. “Your women are yours! Keep them, but please let the villagers live!”

Eia chuckled at the pathetic display happening at her feet, pressing the end of the magical weapon further into the girl’s throat. “You said it yourself, Alistora. The deal is off.” 

“Please no, I’m begging you!!” Brinia tightened her grip on the staff, trying to resist the force of Eia pressing it into her throat. “I’ll do anything. I swear.” 

“Anything?” Eia grinned, forcefully pulling the staff back, tearing the tip away from the dryad’s desperate grip.

“Anything.” Brinia choked back her tears and lowered her head to the ground, pleading for the wendigo to give her another chance. 

“Then maybe you’ll come up with a way to change my mind....” Eia smiled, turning in place and tapping the bottom of the staff on the floor beneath her. “But I’m a woman of my word, Alistora. I promised you there would be serious consequences for your disobedience, and for now I intend on keeping that promise.”

Brinia leapt to her feet, grabbing at the back end of what was now Eia’s staff. She didn’t attempt to disarm her, only to slow her down. “What can I do to change your mind? What will it take to get you to spare them?”

Eia growled, pulling the staff out of the girl’s grasp once again before continuing out of her den. “That’s something that you’ll have to figure out, dryad… And I would do it before it’s too late.”

Brinia cursed at her own arrogance. If she had made the easy decision, her village wouldn’t be in danger. But she didn’t make the easy decision, she didn’t want to make sacrifices. She tried to do what she thought was right, even though she knew that if she failed it could all go horribly wrong. Now here she was, watching everything go horribly wrong. 

↞✶↠

Eia emerged from her den, setting foot onto the forest floor, the dryad right behind her. 

“So I made the wrong choice!!” Brinia continued to plead with the larger woman. “I just thought tha-”

“You just thought what, Alistora?” The wendigo turned to face her, looming over her menacingly, her mask in hand. “You thought you stood a chance at defeating me? After you so thoroughly lost, even at your full power? You thought you could take even a single one of my brides away from me?? Like you tried to do just last night??” Eia snarled and shook her head, slowly putting the mask back on her face.

Brinia stood in stunned silence, her heart beating through her chest. _What happened last night?_ “You mean… the wraith? She was one of your-”

“Took you long enough… For such a smart girl, _you_ truly are quite dim-witted.”

“I wasn’t trying to steal them from you!! I made a choice, I wanted to give them a choice… If they love you, wouldn’t they choose to stay?” Brinia curled her hands into fists, biting back her rage. “Give me one more chance to protect my people… Give me something, please?”

Eia paused in place, looking down at the blonde. The wendigo was putting on a big show, she didn’t want to slaughter the people of Thorn, and the last thing she wanted was to kill Brinia Alistora. She wanted to make the girl feel miserable for standing up to her, but she didn’t want to give the archfey away. Suddenly, the safety of the villagers _was_ her concern, especially if they were so important to one of her brides. They were important to Brinia, and suddenly that meant something. “Your first task.”

Brinia’s head suddenly rose to face Eia’s, her hands trembling, desperate for something. “Anything.”

Eia extended her arm towards the smaller woman, holding the staff out for her to take, something for Brinia to cling to for support. “Stop your whining for now, and carry this for me.” 

Brinia’s heart fluttered excitedly. She reached out for the Hollow’s Heart, her hands stopping just short of the weapon’s handle, her fingertips once again mere inches from her trusted staff. “Are you sure… You ordered me not to touch it, and-”

“And now I’m ordering you to take it, before I change my mind.” Eia had already demonstrated that the magic of the forest was sealed off from Brinia’s grasp, the magic charm of the wendigo’s hex had already rendered using any magic impossible for the dryad. In her hands, the staff was no more useful than a bludgeon. 

Brinia reached for it, curling her fingers around the wooden implement, holding it in her hands as the wendigo released it. It was heavier than it used to be, the magic inside of it resisting her. Satisfied, Eia turned back around and continued towards the village, and the dryad followed. 

“What am I to do with this now?” She clutched it to her chest for support. 

Eia grinned maniacally behind the mask “You’ll find out.”

  
  
  


Brinia followed behind the wendigo all the way to the edge of town, tailing her like a trained dog, her staff held close to her for support. She couldn’t see Eia’s face hidden behind her mask, but she dreaded to think what the monster had planned for her. 

Eia turned to the quivering faerie girl. “If the people see me first, they’ll riot. Send out a flare so that they know it’s you.” 

Brinia clutched the Hollow’s Heart as tight as she could, still unable to summon forth any magic power from the artifact. “But I can’t… your hexes won’t let me…”

“They will if I allow it.” Eia smiled, snapping her fingers together. 

All of a sudden Brinia could feel her fingertips tingling with life, just a little bit of her magic returning to her. She took a deep breath, holding the staff out in front of her, watching the cuts on her hands beginning to heal. She pointed the weapon’s tip into the sky and released her magic, watching a pink wisp soar high into the air before exploding into a brilliant firework, lighting up the morning sky. Just as quickly as it was done, the weight of the staff returned, and any magic that Brinia managed to briefly grasp at was siphoned away from her by the instrument. 

“As long as you have my blessing, your powers will be accessible to you.” Eia reached down and gave her a gentle pat between her shoulder blades, trying to show her approval. “Your magic isn’t gone… It just belongs to me now.”

 _Just like everything else._ Brinia sighed to herself, following beside Eia into the village. She could see the people, _her people_ , begin to gather. “So if I devote myself to you, you’ll let my body heal?”

Eia looked down at her and nodded. “Of course… but for reasons you’re about to find out, you might not want your full strength for what’s about to happen.”

Brinia swallowed nervously, gripping her staff to her chest for support as she stared up at Eia, her heart pounding again. She could hear shocked gasps and bewildered exclamations from the crowds beginning to form, finally seeing Brinia and the wendigo together. “What do you have planned, fiend…”

“Give it a few more moments… Let the people be here to see this~”

Brinia was grinding her teeth again. “...To see what?”

“To see what you’re about to do… To see that their guardian obeys _me_ now~” The wendigo cackled eagerly, gesturing for the girl to stand before her, for the citizens to see. “You said you’d do anything, didn’t you?”

The dryad stepped in front of her, looking up at Eia, her back to the people that she once protected. She couldn’t bear to look at them right now. “Anything.”

“I won’t lay a finger on any of them.” Eia reached down and put a single hand on the staff, pushing it to Brinia’s chest. “But you will.”

Brinia gripped the staff as tight as she could, shaking her head desperately. “No…”

“No?” Eia leaned over her, breathing down the girl’s neck. “Didn’t you just say you’d do _anything_?”

“I know what I said, but I-” 

Eia placed her hand on the staff again and shoved it forcefully into the girl’s chest. “You’ll take that staff… and you’ll do my job for me, and once I’m satisfied that you’ve done your best… Whoever is left can live~”

Brinia pulled the staff to her chest, looking over her shoulder at the crowd behind her. “How is this better?”

“Would you rather all of them die at my hands, or would you rather have _some_ of them die at your hands?” The wendigo leaned in close enough for the dryad to feel her breath on her face, even through the woman’s mask. 

Brinia bit her lip, choking back enraged sobs and hanging her head in shame. “I can’t do it…”

The monster snarled at her, holding her hand out for the staff. “Then you better have thought of _something else_ to appease me… Because I am beginning to lose patience.”

Brinia took a deep breath, bowing her head to the wendigo. “I have something, Ma’am.”

  
Eia tilted her head curiously, her fiendish ears flicking at the thought of what the girl might have come up with. “Is that so?”

“It’s not much, but…” Brinia swallowed her pride and dropped to her knees in front of the wendigo. “But it’s all I can do.”

“On with it then, what have you got for me?”

Brinia took a deep breath and nodded her head. _Here goes._

“I kneel before you, on all fours.”

“To swear that I’m forever yours.” 

Brinia spoke loudly and clearly so that everyone could hear her, the noise of the crowd quieting to listen to what the dryad says. 

“Anything you so desire…”

“I vow to be what you require~”

Eia looked down at the dryad, Brinia couldn’t tell it, but she was smiling behind the mask. Of course this was something the forest spirit would think of, even if she couldn’t act, she could use her words, and her words were resonating with her audience, including Eia. Brinia looked up at the wendigo, holding the staff up in her open palms, hoping that she could charm Eia with her poem. 

“I give my everything to you.” 

“For all the things that you can do. “

The villagers at least were beginning to react, listening intently to what Brinia was saying and beginning to piece together the nature of what was going on. Their guardian was giving herself up to the monstrous wendigo. 

“My head, my hand, my soul, my heart.” 

“I pray that we will never part.” 

Brinia looked up at Eia, her eyes pleading for the wendigo’s mercy, and for her part it was working. Eia nodded at her to continue, pleased with what she’d heard so far.

“Forever shall I kneel to thee.”

“Respect your power over me.”

“Become what I am meant to be.”

“And serve you ever faithfully.”

  
Brinia bowed her head very briefly as a sign of respect, looking down at the ground, but still making certain that everyone could hear her, not just Eia. This wasn’t going to work unless everyone heard it. She needed to show her devotion to Eia in front of everyone that could see.  
She took one last breath before facing up again, wanting to look Eia in the eyes as she finished the last verse. She had no way to know what the wendigo was thinking, but to Brinia, a song from her heart was more powerful than any magic she could ever conjure.

“So here to you I now resign.”

“Everything I once called mine.”

“Beneath your rule, I know I’ll shine.”

“I’ll never run. I’ll never whine.”

“To belong to you is all I crave.”

“You have my word that I’ll behave.”

“Please spare the souls I couldn’t save.”

“And let me be your loving slave.”

There was nothing but shocked silence in the air around her, her pointed ears twitching at every noise. She knew that getting down on her knees and reciting a poem before the wendigo was pathetic, but she hoped it was pathetic enough to amuse the creature. She hoped it was enough for her to spare the people that stood behind her. Some were watching with awe and horror at what the dryad was doing, but others were actually sneering and laughing at her. _Say something. Please._

Eia’s emotions were hidden behind the mask as she stared menacingly at the woman kneeling before her, still processing what it was that she had just listened to. “A poem?”

The wendigo was simply astonished by just the thought of it, trying to capture the words she’d just listened to and trap them away so that she wouldn’t forget them. “After I told you to take arms against them, you thought that a few rhymes was going to be enough to get me to spare the entire village?”

Eia turned her attention towards the villagers, roaring loudly, her fearsome cry echoing through the silence. “Your guardian got down on her hands and knees to humiliate herself in front of all of you… in the hopes of getting me to spare all of your lives, she wrote a poem for me~” 

Brinia’s stomach was churning. Any moment now she expected Eia to turn and begin her relentless assault on the people she had sworn to protect, and the dryad was prepared to stand up to her, knowing very well that she would lose.

_So this is how you endear yourself to people, dryad?_ Eia tried her best not to smile, but she could tell that she was blushing behind the mask. _Is this why they all love you?_

Eia gazed towards the villagers, looking at the desperate expressions on all of their faces. Her eyes locked onto one woman in the crowd, a coyote minx. Her hands were clasped together in front of her lips, her eyes wet with signs that she was about to cry just watching what was happening. “And what’s your name, dear?”

The woman gasped, quickly averting her eyes away from the gaze of the wendigo, looking down towards the kneeling dryad. 

_Fennecca…_ Brinia’s heart thumped nervously, the look in the poor girl’s eyes almost enough to bring her to tears as well.

Eia’s head was still spinning, looking back down towards Brinia. To say that she was amused by the dryad’s performance was an understatement, Eia was stunned. Alistora’s way with words had taken the wendigo’s breath away. 

Eia sighed, leaning over Brinia on one knee as she slowly removed her mask, revealing her tender smile and stupidly happy face to the dryad. “I thought she did quite remarkably, didn’t you?” Eia turned to look at the minx woman again, showing her face to the people of Thorn for the first time. 

“She always does.” Brinia followed the voice, looking up from the ground for the first time since finishing her poem. It was Fennecca. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything to the girl, but she did her best to reassure her with a smile. _Thank you Fennecca._

“From this point on this village, like Alistora, belongs to me.” Eia rose from her knee, standing up and addressing the crowd. “Anything I say goes, unless you all want to be devoured… Or worse, sold to the hobgoblins~”

“What’s going to happen to Brinia?” Eia turned to face the minx woman again, surprised to see that the dryad was seemingly so important to her. “What are you going to do with her, monster?”

“You heard it from Alistora herself, she is now my slave. I will do whatever I want with her.” The dryad’s heart began to flutter excitedly, somehow she had managed to convince Eia not to slaughter them all. Eia grinned, looking back down at the emotion spreading across Brinia’s face, her hand extended towards the girl. “The staff, sweetie.” 

Brinia’s attention jerked back up to Eia, gazing into the woman’s eyes, biting her lips as she lifted the staff into the wendigo’s grasp. 

Eia held the staff up with one hand, shaking the earth beneath them with the artifact’s magic power. In an instant the morning sky was beginning to darken, not by clouds but by the sudden emergence of massively overgrown trees, quickly beginning to surround the village in a dense forest cage. The villagers were mortified to see that Eia could possibly command the power of the woods, trapping them inside of their modest village. “From this point on consider yourselves on lockdown, if I do happen to find any of you wandering outside of these trees, anticipate a gruesome and brutal death.” Eia’s loving smile towards Brinia became a wicked grin as she turned her attention back to the dryad’s people. “And if any of you are brave enough to come fight me, then by all means, I’m always hungry for a challenge. Come along, Alistora. We’re leaving.”

The dryad took one last look towards the horrified Fennecca, unable to face her shame as she turned away, trailing behind her new master out of the village.

“What happens now?” Brinia swallowed nervously, terrified to think of what comes next, as she watched the wendigo magically seal the village behind her.

Eia gave the dryad a reassuring smile, gesturing for the girl to follow her home. “Now, dearest Alistora. We introduce you to your sisters.”


	4. Magic Fingers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally time for Brinia to meet her sisters. But before she can truly become the wendigo’s bride, she’ll need to be taught her place. Luckily, she’s going to learn from the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's this terrifying behemoth of a chapter!!
> 
> The last time I wrote a chapter this long I decided to split it into two smaller chapters. This time I decided it might be better for me to just keep it as one extra long chapter, but I'm not sure how I would prefer it.  
> If anyone reading this has any preference between multiple short chapters or fewer longer length chapters, please let me know~!!

“This den is your home now.”

The wendigo lead her bride-to-be into the entry chamber. The tree stump where her hobgoblin den mother usually waited for her was empty, and the rest of her brides were nowhere to be seen. “You’ll meet your den mother, Cerilla, later. She’s in charge of you and your sisters when I’m away.” 

“I’m going to have a mother as well as sisters?” Brinia snapped back sarcastically, she was still trying to wrap her head around everything she was being told. She knew that the wendigo’s lair was somewhere beyond the fog wastes, but she hadn’t really considered the place inhabited. After all up until now she hadn’t considered Eia a person, so it hadn’t occurred to her that the woman’s den was as big and complicated as it was. 

“The den mother is one of your sisters. As you’ll learn, all of my brides have a different role to play… and you will too.” Eia gestured for the dryad to move into the next chamber, pointing the staff towards the door. 

Brinia pushed the door open, reluctantly stepping into a much larger circular chamber. “And what is my role going to be?” 

“We’ll figure that out in time, once you’ve been collared.” The wendigo shut the door behind them, sealing it so that the grand chamber wouldn’t be exposed to the elements. 

“And when will I be… collared?” Brinia gave in to her usual habit of grinding her teeth in moments of stress and anger. 

Mask in one hand, Eia reached up towards one of her antlers with the other, snapping off quite a large piece of it and twirling it in her hand.    
“Tonight.”

  
  
  


Brinia hated every single word that was coming out of the wendigo’s mouth. She had been created to be the guardian of the forest, these woods were supposed to belong to her, and the idea of bending over and becoming one of Eia’s loyal lap dogs made her seethe. She wasn’t doing this because she wanted to do it, or because she cared about the wendigo, she didn’t. Brinia was doing this to protect the Eternal Hollow, and the citizens of Thorn, from the wrath of the terrible fiend that stood before her. 

She had no idea how to do so without her magic, the Hollow’s Heart seemingly having latched on to Eia, but if she could kill the monster and restore her magical might, the Eternal Hollow would be hers once again. But for now she was patient, there was nothing she could do right now that could possibly take the beast down, especially since her healing magic hadn’t been allowed to restore her body to full health. She was going to do what Eia told her for now, but the idea of letting herself be collared was disgusting.

Collaring used to be a sacred rite across the realms. It was used to show one’s endless and undying devotion to another, and it was once common to see among the citizens of Thorn.    
But since the kingdom of Najistaire got their hands on the practice, it had been eternally desecrated. No longer was placing a collar around someone’s neck seen as an act of love and devotion, no. The act only meant one thing.  _ Slavery. _

Placing a collar around someone’s neck is a declaration of ownership and control. Once you wore a collar you were owned, whether you liked it or not, and Brinia couldn’t stand it. Yet even more despicable was the way that Eia seemed to view the act. From the way the wendigo spoke she somehow made it out to be a mixture of both, as if placing a collar around the neck of one of her ‘Brides’ was a declaration of her love for them, as well as a claim of ownership.

It made Brinia’s blood boil.

Eia could see the disgust on the dryad’s face, she would have to teach the girl a lesson later. But in the meantime there was a whole host of things that needed to be taken care of before she could collar her new bride. She had spent much of the last day devoted to Brinia, and she had to take care of the rest of her harem as well. 

Eia held the Hollow’s Heart out to Brinia, waiting for her to take it. “Take the staff and keep it safe. You won’t be able to use it, but you seem to feel more secure when you have it.”

Brinia gripped the staff in both hands, still unable to feel the magic of it inside of her. “May I have my healing magic back now, fiend?”

“I will give you your healing magic back once you’ve  _ earned it. _ ” Eia growled under her breath at her, pushing her forward towards one of the other chambers. “In the meantime, get to know your sisters.”

Eia swung open the door to the chamber, shoving the dryad through the entryway and into the dimly lit chamber. Brinia clung to the perceived safety that her staff provided her, knowing that it could at least be used as a weapon if she needed to fight. She was expecting to suddenly be face to face with the wendigo’s entire harem, but there was only one other person in the chamber. It was the wraith.

_ Fuck. _

Arleena had been sleeping, and she was slow to awaken from her rest. But once she did see the dryad, a look of panicked horror quickly spread across her ghastly face. “No!! Fuck please not here, please-”

Brinia’s heart sank as she watched her panic. She hardly ever felt this guilty for something that she’d done, but seeing someone writhing in pain thanks to the damage the dryad had inflicted upon them, it broke her heart. 

“It’s okay Arleena, she’s not going to hurt you.” Eia’s voice cut through Brinia’s intrusive thoughts. “I’m not going to let her hurt you ever again~”

The girl, Arleena, looked up at the wendigo, instantly seeming to calm down some when she saw that Eia was here with her. “Wh-why is she here, Master?” The wraith’s language was measured and reverential, addressing the wendigo with respect even as she panicked. “I don’t understand. Why have you brought her here, Ma’am?”

“M-maybe I should stay with you?” Brinia interrupted, turning away from the other girl in shame. “I don’t want to give her a panic attack…”

Eia growled at the dryad, causing her to shrink in place. “I have things I need to take care of. Alone. Now stay here and  _ apologize. _ ”

Before Brinia could find the words to respond with, Arleena interrupted. “No... Master… Not her... Anyone but her, please?” 

Arleena shook her head, quickly realizing what her owner had planned, pleading for Eia not to go through with it. “We don’t need her Ma’am. If this is about what happened, I’ll be fine soon. I can hunt on my own, it won’t happen again, I promise.”

Eia sighed loudly, clearly the issue of claiming the dryad as one of her brides was going to take more effort to address than she had assumed. “Arleena dearest, this has nothing to do with you or any shortcomings on your part… This is about putting Alistora in her place.”

Brinia grinded her teeth. Eia continued to grate at the dryad’s pride with every word that came out of her mouth. “Unfortunately, I haven’t really been given any say in the matter…”

“Is that so, Alistora?” Eia turned back towards the dryad, looming over the girl. “It was my understanding that you wanted nothing more than to serve me, so much so that you were compelled to  _ beg _ for it.”

Arleena turned to face the dryad for just a few moments, her eyes aglow with anger as she glared at the forest sprite before turning back to her master, her heart seemingly broken.

“Since it appears however that I’ve been mistaken, we can turn around this instant and let the villagers know that you’ve had a change of heart.” Annoyed at the dryad’s behavior, Eia looked down at Brinia with the same fire in her eyes. “It’s not too late for me to go through with my promise to get rid of them all, or we can revisit our previous arrangement. I’m sure precious Arleena here would love to watch you mutilate them instead, just like you did to her~”

“Please-” Brinia’s voice drew thin, cracking nervously. “I’m sorry… I won’t hurt her anymore. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore...”

Arleena giggled smugly. Hearing Brinia’s words seemed to ease her pain slightly. The wraith seemed to be pleased to see the dryad being punished for all of the pain that she had inflicted to the girl. 

“There there doll…” Tilting her head to meet the wraith’s gaze, Eia reached down and gently pet the undead girl on the head, trying to assure her that it was going to be okay. She lovingly cooed at her poor injured bride before standing up, ready to leave the two girls by themselves. “Play nice with your new sister, I will return shortly~” 

The wendigo closed the door in front of her, shaking her head in exasperation. She didn’t have time to deal with this situation right now. Brinia needed to be getting ready for her collar, and Eia couldn’t keep an eye on her around the clock. She needed to find the dryad a mentor, and even worse, she’d left Izona in the breeding chamber all night. 

↞✶↠

“And you want me to be the one to teach her, Ma’am?”    
Izona rubbed her sore wrists, relieved to finally be free from the post she’d been chained to for the better part of the last day. 

Reaching over the girl from behind, Eia did the same, trying to ease the pain she’d inadvertently caused by taking so long to finally breed her poor bride. “Of course I do~!!”

Izona was excited to find out that Eia was finally about to complete her harem, having been with the wendigo longer than any other bride, she knew how much her Master had been looking forward to this. “But why me, Master?”

“Because you, my beloved, are the big sister.” Eia smiled, tracing her hands up the pseudo-giant’s arms all the way up to her shoulders.

“I know that, Eia.” Izona shook her head, giggling at the tickling sensation of her handler tracing her claws along her skin. “But Valonda is her big sister too, I’m sure she could probably learn more from her than from me~”

“You know very well how difficult Valonda can be even when she’s not busy, especially considering that she’s about to have her hands full with delivering Noriza’s pups. Plus, she’s going to have another sister visiting her in the waiting chamber soon enough~” Eia grabbed a handful of her handmaiden’s curly red hair, tilting her head back so that she was facing straight upwards towards the larger woman behind her before booping the pseudo-giant’s nose with her finger. “More importantly, where do you get off to referring to your Master by her first name~?”

“I just got off, Ma’am!” Izona stuck her tongue out slightly, blowing a small raspberry at the wendigo as her nose was booped, giggling to herself as she completely dodged Eia’s question. 

Eia scoffed sarcastically, yanking on Izona’s hair with both hands before slowly letting the girl sit back up, quickly going to work on tying her bride’s bush of almost pink hair into a ponytail.

Izona held her hair up to help make the process more bearable for her owner. “Not in the breeding chamber, Master?”

Eia quickly and gracefully tied the girl’s hair into a very simple ponytail, fluffing it with her hands once she was done. “Let’s keep it to my private quarters only, you have to set a good example for your new sister.”

“Yes Master. I understand.” Izona shook her hair free from Eia’s grasp, blowing the few strands of hair that always seem to escape the hair tie away from her face. “Where is she, anyways?”

“She is currently in the recovery chamber with Arleena.” There was of course, more to the situation that Eia wasn’t telling her handmaiden; She had been careful not to actually give away the identity of her new bride just yet, realizing that the situation with Alistora needed to be handled with care. She knew that out of all nine of her current brides, Izona was the least likely to protest with any of her decisions, and it was for exactly that reason that she’d selected Izona for the task in the first place.

The pseudo-giant tilted her head curiously. “Kind of a weird place to leave her, isn’t it?”

“I figured Arleena could use a little bit of… cheering up~” Eia bit her lip, fibbing through her teeth. “Besides, I am going to need someone to serve as my handmaiden while you’re in the breeding chamber.”

“I can do it, Master.” Izona shrugged it off, looking towards her handler for approval before standing up, still rubbing her wrists as she did so. “But you gotta go see Valonda, I can’t even remember the last time she’s left the waiting chamber before last night, but she was looking for you while you were gone… Sounds like she’s been having trouble with  _ you know who~ _ ”

“Of course she is.” Eia sighed, growling under her breath in exasperation. “She’s refusing to leave the kitchen isn’t she?”

“It’s more like she’s refusing to listen to Valonda, actually~” Izona twirled, patting down the skirt of her dress as she finished putting it on. “Those two don’t seem to get along recently, especially when Valonda is trying to tell her what to do.” 

“I’ll speak with her tonight-” Eia headed to the door, holding it open for her bride. “But first, let’s go meet your new sister~”

↞✶↠

Brinia and Arleena sat across from each other in silence for the most part. She was clutching onto her staff as hard as she could for support, using it like a security blanket. Even if she couldn’t make proper use of it, having the staff with her made Brinia feel safe, it was a weapon after all.

But seeing the staff in the dryad’s hands was only putting Arleena even more on edge. It wasn’t just any weapon, it was the weapon that had hospitalized the wraith in the first place, or whatever their equivalent of hospitalization was. 

She didn’t quite seem frightened so much as she seemed vigilant. Glancing over at the dryad every few moments just to make sure she wasn’t about to meet her grizzly demise, Arleena was clearly unamused by the fact that Alistora was here.

“I promise I’m not going to hurt you.” Brinia spoke up, trying to offer her condolences to the other girl.

“You said that already.” Arleena made a point of not looking over when she spoke, despite having just been vigilantly watching the archfey’s actions. Clearly, she still didn’t believe it.

“I’m not happy about this either.” Brinia didn’t usually grind her teeth so often, but everything that was happening around her continued to irritate her. 

“Good.” 

_ Good?  _ Brinia let out an exasperated huff. She already felt bad for what she had done to the other girl, but Arleena wasn’t making things any easier for her. At any rate, the wraith wasn’t being very sociable. Still, Brinia was going to try her best to learn as much as she could about the rest of Eia’s brides, even if it was just to get insight on the wendigo herself. “It is Arleena, right?”

“Yes.” The zombie wannabe was still making an effort not to look the dryad in the eye.

“So… What do you do around here?” Brinia also couldn’t manage to look directly at the girl, trying not to look at whatever injuries she had inflicted on her.

“I’m a hunter… I gather things for the rest of my family, like I was trying to do last night...” Noticing that the dryad was looking away again, the wraith took another quick glance over at her, confused as to why she was even bothering to make conversation. “That way they don’t have to go out and get hurt…”

Hearing Arleena talk only made Brinia feel even more guilty, her heart sinking inside of your chest. “I’m sorry… I mean it...”

Arleena didn’t respond, not willing to offer the dryad any condolence or forgiveness for what she had done, which Brinia supposed that that was only fair.  _ I deserve this. _

“I’ve never actually met a wraith.” Brinia swallowed nervously, collecting her thoughts. “I was only trying to protect  _ my _ family… But I’m sorry for putting your family in the way of harm… If I could take it back I would.”

Arleena looked down at the floor, shuffling in place, still not saying a word. 

“May I take a closer look at your injuries?” Brinia was looking over Arleena intently now, scanning for all the signs of damage to her body. 

Both of her legs were undoubtedly broken, hence why the girl hadn’t scooted across the room away from her assailant by now, she wasn’t able to. She had landed a pretty heavy blow to the wraith’s side as well, likely dislocating her shoulder, if not outright shattering it. 

Most distressing of all however, even though Arleena was trying to hide it behind her thin silver hair, was a pretty heinous bruise just below her left eye, which was inevitably going to leave a permanent scar, even with the dryad’s most powerful healing magic.

Arleena furled her eyebrows angrily, snapping back at the idea of it. “Why?! So that you can gloat about how you disfigured me?!”

Brinia had to make a concentrated effort not to shrink in place, knowing very well that all of Arleena’s feelings were perfectly valid. “I just want to see what I can do… I don’t have access to my healing magic at the moment but when your Master gets back, maybe she’ll let me use them to help heal you…”

“I…” Arleena froze, unsure of whether she even wanted the dryad to heal her. “Okay… Sure…”

Even just a cursory diagnosis of all of the wraith’s injuries confirmed what Brinia had feared, the dryad was correct on just about all fronts, but she was at least glad to see that it was only one of the girl’s legs that had been broken, the other had simply been sprained. It was a pretty bad sprain, but it was still just a sprain. Brinia was still carefully leaning over Arleena when Eia finally returned. 

The injured girl’s eyes seemed to glow again when she saw that her owner had brought her big sister, and for the first time since the wendigo had left, Arleena actually smiled. “Izzy!!”

“Hey little sis~” The giantess smiled at Arleena, happy to see that she was finally awake, but when she saw who it was that was crouching over her, Izona’s expression quickly changed to one of pure shock, her mouth instantly left slack-jawed.

“No…” She turned back to Eia, looking up at her in surprise. “Is that the dryad?”

The wendigo looked down and smiled at Izona, shaking her head. “We’ll get to that, but first… It seems that you two are getting along much better… what happened?” She turned back to Brinia and Arleena, sounding almost concerned to see that the two of them were so close to each other.

Brinia swallowed nervously, looking back up at the monster that was Eia. “I was just looking over her injuries to see if I could hopefully use my magic to heal them…”

Before Brinia had even finished speaking, she heard Izona gasp, and a moment later the strangely small pseudo-giant was on the other side of Arleena, crouching over her. “Well?”

Brinia glanced over at Izona. “Well what?”

“Can you heal her, Alistora?” Eia interrupted them, finding herself impatiently standing over the three girls, her hands on her hips. Having taken off most of her clothes in order to properly reassert her dominance over Izona, Brinia could finally see more of Eia’s feminine curves, even if those curves were almost entirely covered in muscle.

“Not yet... but once my healing magic has fully recovered, yes.” Brinia looked up at Eia, struggling not to grind her teeth.

Eia snarled back at her, bearing her sharp teeth for the dryad to see. “And when will that be, pixie?”

Brinia scoffed at it, turning back towards Arleena. “Tomorrow at the earliest… assuming you give me my healing magic back now.” 

“Consider yourself spared, faerie. You’re lucky that I care enough about my precious doll to let you have it back so soon.” Without hesitation, Eia snapped her fingers, disregarding Alistora’s attitude for the sake of Arleena’s safety.    
A moment later, Brinia could feel the magic tingling in her fingers as her ability began to restore to its full potential, slowly healing all of the dryad’s injuries in the process. “I promise I’ll be back tomorrow to see what I can do…”

“Thank you dryad.” Izona smiled at Brinia, gently caressing her undead sister’s cheek. Arleena winced, recoiling from the reach of her elder sister, trying to shield her injured face from the giant’s touch. Izona gasped, holding the girl by the hand instead. “Sorry~”

↞✶↠

“This is Izona.” 

Brinia followed Eia and her handmaiden out of the recovery chamber shortly thereafter, leaving Arleena by herself to get some rest. Brinia had several questions she wanted to ask, but Izona clearly had more. Before either of them had the chance to ask anything however, Eia spoke up. 

“She is going to be your big sister~”

“Big sister?” Brinia groaned at the sound of it. She was already struggling to understand how everything worked here. It was somehow turning out to be more complicated than the hierarchy of angels, which also coincidentally does not exist.  _ Probably.  _ What sort of celestial body would let the entire world fall into the hands of a ruthless empire, that would be ludicrous.

“It’s just our way of saying that I’m above you~” Izona beamed proudly, her hands folded behind her back. “Which just means that  _ you _ have to do as  _ I  _ say.”

Izona didn’t look too terribly intimidating, especially when compared to Eia. Her nearly waist length bush of magenta hair was tied off into a single ponytail, unrealistically suspended behind her head. The way that it seemed to remain level with the back of her head without falling to her shoulders from the sheer weight of it was almost gravity defying. She was a very goofy looking person, and it didn’t get much better from there. Like most giant-kin her skin was gray, albeit with a faint blue tint. The way that their skin was tinted usually varied between the different species of giant, but like most giants and their kin, Izona’s skin was dotted in certain splotches with much darker spots of gray. _Freckles._   
But contrary to her outwardly appearance, she was quite clearly not a giant. She was a pseudo-giant, which were a species of people that were related to giants but were almost a hybrid between actual giants and much smaller humanoids, giant-kin. Yet still unlike what Brinia would expect to see from a pseudo-giant, Izona was small. _Really small._

Brinia hadn’t met many pseudo-giants, but even the smallest of them that she had met were at least 8 feet in height, taller than Eia by a whole foot, and towering over Brinia with twice that. But Izona was shorter than even the dryad was by about 6 inches, landing her right around five and a half feet in height, miniscule when compared to average adults of her kin, and dwarfed by even Eia. Her small size was unnatural, and it made Brinia even more irritated to think that the undercooked runt was going to be telling her what to do.

_ You can not be serious. _ Brinia didn’t know what she had expected when she had initially given herself up to the wendigo, but this certainly was not it. Where the dryad would usually be averting her eyes from Eia’s gaze, she couldn’t help but to turn and look up at her with bewilderment, struggling to understand what was going on. 

“I have things I need to be doing, Alistora. I can’t spend every moment of my time babysitting you.” Eia’s face seemed emotionless, returning the dryad’s gaze without so much as even smiling at her. “But I will give you a word of advice.”   
Having Izona step aside, Eia stood directly in front of Brinia. She leaned over the smaller girl, glaring straight into her eyes. Their faces were only mere inches from each other, and this time there was nothing hiding the wendigo’s face. Brinia no longer had the luxury of looking up into Eia’s mask, there was no barrier left to protect her from her captor’s deepest desires, there was only pure unfiltered emotion exchanged between them as they looked into each other’s eyes. Brinia would soon be getting to know the real Eia, experiencing whatever it was that the monster hid behind her mask.   
“Today will be the last time you will be treated with anything even remotely resembling respect.” Eia curled her fist into the front of the dryad’s tunic, lifting her closer, her toes just barely touching the ground. “You will be receiving your collar tonight. Once it’s on, expect the rest of your life to become a living hell.”

“Do as you are told today, and try to familiarize yourself with how things will work from now on. I can hand wave any mistakes you make today as a learning experience, but once the night is over…” The wendigo very suddenly let go of the girl’s tunic, dropping her back onto her feet. “I will not be so forgiving.”

Speechless, Brinia watched as the wendigo turned away, heading off to what she remembered was the master’s private chamber, leaving the dryad with Izona.

“First things first.” Izona stood in front of Brinia much like Eia had just been doing, but this time it was Brinia who was looking down, even if the size difference was much less impressive. “Give me the staff.”

“Excuse me?” Brinia clutched the staff to her chest, her fingers tightening around it. Giving it to the wendigo was one thing, but she was not about to hand over the Hollow’s Heart to some pipsqueak half giantess that she just met. 

“I said give me the staff.” Izona extended her hand, holding it open expectantly. “I don’t really like repeating myself either you know~”

“Your master handed it off to me to hold onto, sorry.” Brinia gripped the staff tight in one hand, holding it away from Izona. 

Izona tapped her foot impatiently, still holding out her hand. “You’ll very quickly learn that  **my master** is also  **your master** , and  **your master** told you to do as you’re told and follow my instructions. Now give me the staff before I have to take it from you by force.”

From day one Brinia understood that the Hollow’s Heart was not to fall into the hands of non-archfey, and she was certain that Izona was no archfey. Before she had time to say as such however, the pseudo-giant was gripping at her tunic in the same spot that her master had just been, pulling the dryad towards her. 

Brinia was stunned. Izona may have been tiny in stature, but she was  **terrifyingly strong.** She had assumed that her small size in comparison to other giant-kin would render her strength equally miniscule, but she was surprised to find that Izona might just be the strongest pseudo-giant that the dryad had ever met in her many years of guarding the Eternal Hollow. 

Izona forcefully pried the weapon from her new sister’s hand, tearing it from her grasp in much the same way that Eia previously had. Her strength was comparable to the wendigo’s, though lacking in the same finesse that the latter possessed, leaving Izona’s raw power feeling considerably more forceful, which left her feeling all the more menacing. 

“Okay. I’m not going to fight for it.” Brinia threw her hands up, attempting to pull herself away from the other girl. Alistora was being rational, but she wasn’t being submissive. Izona would have to fix that if she wanted to see the dryad live past her first week. 

With the staff in one hand and Brinia in the other, Izona held the weapon up to Alistora’s head, threatening to swing it directly into the side of her skull. “Say ‘Yes Big Sister.’”

Brinia nervously glanced towards the staff to her left, still biting her tongue. She could tell that Izona wasn’t going to be taking no for an answer, but she still couldn’t quite bring herself to repeat it. Brinia was confident that an attack like this wouldn’t quite be lethal, but she most certainly didn’t want to feel what it’s like to be on the receiving end of the giantess’ brute force. She heard Izona sigh, watching her begin to wind back for an attack, and finally gave in. The dryad wasn’t going to let her face be mangled and scarred like Arleena’s if she could avoid it. She pinched her eyes shut, bracing for the brunt of the attack. “Yes Big Sister!!” 

Izona grinned smugly, setting the bottom of the staff on the ground, gripping it in her hand as she did the same to Alistora, waiting for the girl to open her eyes. “It’s not hard, show respect to your superiors and you won’t have to be punished.” Izona giggled, quickly amending her last statement. “Best to expect physical violence… You’ll be subjected to it either way~”

The dryad sighed, watching Izona toss the staff into the air before catching it quite a few times. “I will say I expected it to be much heavier, the guardian of the Frosted Forest had a weapon almost five times the size of this one~” 

Brinia bit her lip, grinding her teeth at the sight of the puny pseudo-giant mishandling her beloved treasure. “Ollik the goliath, you mean?”

“Yeah… him…” The staff landed in the wannabe goliath’s hand one last time. Izona took a quick glance at the weapon before gazing away from it, averting her eyes from Alistora’s question. “Anyways, I hope you understand your position now… without having to be whacked upside the head.”

Alistora patted down her tunic after being put down for the third time this morning. “Respect Eia, respect Izona, got it… Is there anyone else I should know about?” From the corner of her eye she saw Izona quickly turn her attention back onto her, pointing the tip of the staff directly at her face. 

“ **You** , Alistora, are never to refer to Eia by her name. You belong to her now, and you will address her as Master or Ma’am at all times, until such a day when she herself gives you permission to do otherwise.” Izona smirked, slowly lowering the staff. “Like she has with me~”

Brinia took a step back. This was nearly as bad as the way Eia had treated her initially, the only thing missing was for the wendigo’s handmaiden to strip her bare and fondle her. Still, this was hardly any better, it was just different. 

“As far as respecting your superiors, yes. Our den mother, Cerilla, is in charge of us. You and I both have to listen to what she says at all times. She is second in command regardless of whether the Master is home or away.”

_ Right, the den mother. _ Alistora remembered Eia telling her as such shortly after she’d stepped inside the den, it was practically the first thing she’d been told when she arrived. “I remember, she mentioned Cerilla when we got here.”

Izona nodded, her smug expression softening to a friendly smile. “The tree stump just outside is where Cerilla sits usually, it must have been on her mind as she passed by.”    
“So that’s all then, in terms of my… superiors?” Brinia hated hearing even such an inconsequential word like that come out of her mouth, bringing herself to call the wendigo ‘Master’ was quite literally never going to happen.

“No actually, there is one more~!” Izona held the staff out, using it to gesture around the room, pointing out the various circular doorways that littered the walls around her. “Just about every room in the den is circular like this one, we refer to them as chambers. We’re currently standing in the grand chamber, this is where you’ll most likely find yourself sleeping on most nights. Likewise, every other chamber in the den has a different name and a different purpose.”

Aiming the tip of the Hollow’s Heart directly to the circular door that Eia had left through, Izona began to explain the chamber and its purpose. “That’s the Master’s chamber, it’s private to her and only she can open the door… In fact, you’ll find yourself unable to open many of the chamber doors, and that’s by design.” Izona tilted the staff upward, directing Alistora’s attention to a strange white glowing glyph above the doorway. “That’s the Master’s glyph, the door will only open for her, and the same goes for every door with that white symbol above it.”

Smiling eagerly, Izona gestured towards a smaller doorway not too far from the doorway into the Master’s chamber, this one equipped with a blue glyph instead. “That blue glyph is my glyph. It doesn’t work exactly the same way, but it is similar. The door will only open for me, Master, and anyone that I allow to open them.”

Brinia stopped for a moment, trying to absorb the sudden rush of information, her head spinning in place as she studied all of the different glyphs. “The chambers with those yellow glyphs however, are Valonda’s chambers.” 

Brinia turned back to face Izona again, thoroughly confused about the identity of this new person. “...Valonda?”

“I’m almost done, I promise… I just want to make sure you don’t accidentally walk face first into any of the doors. The den is basically split into two different halves, Home and Family.” Izona tapped the bottom of the staff on the floor once again, having finished with pointing around the room. “I’m the Head of Home. Valonda is the Head of Family. Those doors with the yellow glyphs function the exact same as my own glyphs, but they’re under Valonda’s control rather than mine. She’s the last one you’ll be expected to respect and obey…” 

“Even if  **some of us** can’t learn to respect our superiors.” Izona grumbled, glancing at one of the doorways with her own glyph above it, the feasting chamber. “Speaking of  **them** , some of your other sisters will expect you to show them the same respect that you show Cerilla or I, even if you aren’t really required to… You’ll just have to figure out your own place on the hierarchy~”

Izona gestured at the doorway to the entrance of the den. “And finally, Cerilla’s glyph, the red one. Only our den mother gets to decide who goes through those doors, including Valonda or I… and as den mother, Cerilla also gets her own private chamber, even though it is much smaller than the Master’s… But-” Izona giggled, winking at Brinia. “If you’re chosen to fill in for one of us, our glyphs will be replaced with your own for the duration… Including the mother’s chamber~”

Brinia had largely stopped listening by this point. The idea of being allowed to take control of the mother’s den was likely supposed to be exciting, but she was now even more put off by the entire affair than she was before, knowing that there was not just one person she would need to bow down to… but four. “...Is that all?”

“For now, yes… Don’t be surprised if you don’t actually get to meet Valonda for a while, she’s kind of closed off. The only one of us who really works with her is Noriza.” 

“Noriza?” Brinia sighed, pinching the temple of her nose in exasperation. “...How many of you are there?”

“This morning there were nine of us…” Izona smirked, reaching forward with the staff and booping Brinia on the nose with the tip of it, giggling as the girl flinched. “But now there are ten.”

_ Right. Me. I’m supposed to be one of  _ **_them_ ** _ now… _

Brinia wasn’t sure how to respond to any of this just yet, and before she could think of anything to say to break the sudden silence, she was startled by the sudden sound of Izona tossing the Hollow’s Heart to the floor beneath them.    
The former guardian of the staff was about to scoop the magical artifact and snap at the pseudo-giant for mistreating the item, but she was stopped in her tracks when she was what Izona was doing. 

“ _ SHIT!!! _ ” Izona was bent over slightly, grasping at her right wrist with the opposite hand, clearly inundated with pain. “What the hell, Alistora!!!!” 

Neither of the girls knew quite what had happened, but one thing was certain, Izona was in a lot of pain. Magical pain. 

_ The staff!! No mundane creature has ever actually held the staff for this long. _

Brinia leapt for the staff, picking it up and fumbling it in her hands.  _ What happened? What did you do to her?  _ The dryad was slowly regaining her restoration magic, but the power of the staff was still unreachable to her. There was nothing she could do, and more importantly there was no way Brinia could be the cause of what was happening to the giantess. 

But Izona was clearly convinced otherwise. 

The handmaiden’s face was bubbling with rage, her once friendly expression being mangled into an ugly warlike scowl. “What the FUCK did you just do to me?!”

Brinia backed away from the other girl, the staff now in hand. Seeing the weapon she was just holding now in the grasp of the dryad didn’t help convince Izona of the other girl’s innocence. “It wasn’t me. I swear. I wouldn’t have.”

Izona growled angrily, much in the same way that Brinia had heard Eia do. Clearly her years and years at the wendigo’s side has taught her to pick up on some of her master’s behaviors. “Save it, pixie!! Just make it stop already~!!”

“I can’t!! It wasn’t me. It couldn’t have been-” Brinia stepped back, alarmed by the sudden appearance of magical green sparks and wisps emanating from the collar around the giant’s neck. Alistora had noticed that both Arleena and her big sister had matching collars clasped around their necks, and they were both nearly identical to the rings that their master wore on each of her fingers, only differing in size. Holding onto the magical staff for long had clearly disturbed something in Izona, and without access to the magic inside of the artifact, Brinia was helpless to stop it. She felt weak and powerless. She  _ was  _ weak and powerless. “I don’t know what to do, I’m sorry-”

_ What do I do? Should I go get someone? Who should I get? Where can I even go? Will any of these doors even open for me? Where is Eia? _

Brinia was attempting to formulate a strategy in her head when her vision seemed to be filled with an explosion of blinding green light, stunning her for several moments.   
When she finally did look back towards Izona to see whether she was okay, she quickly realized what exactly was happening to the poor girl.

Izona wasn’t actually a freakishly small pseudo-giant after all. The giantess had actually just been shrunken by magic, and that magic was beginning to unravel right in front of her. Brinia could now very clearly see that the girl’s previous stature was quite literally only half of her original size, and Izona was now standing in front of her, towering over her like a monument. 

“You sleazy little dirt witch!!!” She didn’t at all look happy, and she didn’t sound much happier. 

It was clear to Brinia now why she was so strong as well, the magic keeping her small enough to fit through the doorways did nothing to reduce her monstrous strength in any way at all. Now with over five feet in height over the dryad, Izona had no problem whatsoever lifting Alistora off of her feet into the air, having only been restricted by her own height in her previously shrunken state. Brinia winced, helpless to stop Izona from prying the staff from her hands again, even though the dryad very well knew that the giantess possessing the artifact was the problem in the first place. “You bitch!!! I’m gonna gut you like a fucking warthog!!! You muddy little fuckbag, I swear to-”

“Izona!!!” 

The new voice came from behind the giant woman, over where the master’s chamber was located. But the voice most certainly didn’t belong to Eia herself, Alistora didn’t recognize the voice. “What in the world is going on in here? What happened?”

Brinia got a good look at the other woman, and she didn’t exactly like what she saw. 

_ A hobgoblin? _

“Don’t look at me like that!! I didn’t do this, it was our filthy houseguest here!!” Izona scoffed at the hobgoblin, dropping the dryad onto the ground again, letting her suffer the nearly ten foot drop.

“Calm down Izona. It’s going to be fine-” The other girl began to try and comfort her, but Izona wasn’t letting anyone else get a word in edgewise.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!! I’m not you, I don’t need to stay calm!! I’m going to skin her!!” Izona was horribly frustrated, clearly still distressed from all the sudden pain and magical growth.

“You will do no such thing, Izona.”

Brinia did recognize that voice.  _ Eia. _

“Now I had better get some sort of explanation, or all three of you are going over my knee~”

“Master…” Izona, even while freakishly huge, quivered at the idea of it. “It wasn’t my fault Master, I swear!!” 

“-If I may speak, Master?” The hobgoblin addressed the wendigo with a completely calm demeanor, perfectly respectful and orderly in showing her submission. 

“Proceed~”

The hobgoblin woman nodded, turning to Izona and holding her hand out for the staff, which the giantess quickly handed off to her. “If I had to guess,  **this** is probably the culprit.” She twirled the Hollow’s Heart in one hand, much like Izona and Eia both had been doing earlier in the night, before holding it out to her master. “But I’ve only just gotten here, so I know little else aside from that~”

“Thank you honey, you are excused. And what about you both?” The wendigo graciously accepted the staff from her, before turning back towards the other two girls. “What went wrong here?”

Brinia remained on the floor in silence, unsure of how to address the situation without getting every citizen of Thorn eaten alive.

“Arleena was right!! She can’t be one of us, Master!!” Izona broke the silence for her. “I wasn’t trying to break the charm Ma’am, I promise.” The giantess had calmed down slightly, but was still quite obviously on edge. “I- I would never try to break your charm Master I swear. The dryad must have done something to make it happen!!”

“Calm down beloved, the charm is an easy fix.” Eia held out her left hand, palm down. At her Master’s prompting, Izona’s attitude very quickly calmed down. “Hand beneath mine.”

Izona’s face flushed with embarrassment as she bent over, struggling to hold her hand out beneath the wendigo’s. Eia took a hold of the eleven foot tall pseudo-giants hand, and as she did so the ring on her left ring finger began to glow with magical light. 

Just as quickly as she’d grown to her massive height, her Mistress’ magic reduced her back down to half size, shrinking her down until she was reaching upwards to hold the wendigo’s paw. Once she was finished, she released the girl’s hand, instead reaching outwards and giving her a pat on the head.   
“Your master is an incredibly powerful woman, and don’t you forget that.” She then reached behind her bride’s head to undo the tiny giant’s ponytail, letting it all drape down her back in an attempt to get Izona to smile, which she did. “If your charm ever breaks like that again, all you have to do is come let me know~” Eia waited for a quick affirmation on Izona’s end before turning to the hobgoblin woman and addressing the subject with her as well. “That goes for you too~”

“Yes Master.” The other woman nodded, still perfectly calm, still perfectly respectful. “Come on Zozo, let’s go check on Arleena~” The stranger took Izona’s hand and escorted her back to the recovery chamber where she and the dryad had met. Izona didn’t look at Brinia again, but the hobgoblin woman did. As she was leaving the room she turned back around and gave the dryad a rather nasty look, her calm and cool demeanor giving way to something far more menacing, and almost evil. It was clear that whoever she was, she was not at all a fan of Alistora.

“As for you, Alistora.” The dryad swallowed nervously, looking up at the towering menace that was Eia Madaerie. “To my private chamber, let’s go.”

↞✶↠

“I’m impressed. You’ve managed to piss off even the friendliest of your sisters in the span of a single afternoon.” The wendigo shut the chamber door behind them, giving the dryad a gentle push towards her bed, the same bed that Eia had been on when Brinia had awoken here the first time. “I haven’t seen her so vehemently enraged in quite a while… and if that’s how Izona reacts to you, then I’d hate to see how any of my other girls are going to respond~”

“If you’re going to cull the village to punish me, at least let it be for something I actually did…” Brinia approached the bed, unsure of where it was she was supposed to be going. She knew very well that it was Izona’s own fault that the charm keeping her miniaturized was disabled, but she was scared to say as such directly to Eia’s face for fear of getting the people she’s trying to save killed. “Your handmaiden confiscated the staff from me, and the magic inside of it overwhelmed her… I didn’t do anything at all to her.”

  
“Calm your pistils, little flower~” Eia stood behind the girl, putting her hands on either side of Brinia’s waist and having the dryad hold her arms up as she helped remove the girl’s tunic. “You’re not in trouble either, now get on the bed.”   
Brinia let out a quiet sigh of relief. She had been afraid that Eia was going to be impossible to reason with, but she was more sensible than Brinia had assumed. "I'm not?"

"Under normal circumstances you would be. Izona has been with me longer than any other bride, and I have no reason to doubt her. However, I did promise you a degree of leeway tonight" 

She turned to face the wendigo, sitting down at the foot of the bed, her legs hanging off the side. Eia's bed was bigger than she realized, even the dryad's long legs couldn't touch the ground from sitting position. "The villagers aren't in any danger?"

"Not yet at least, but I think you've used up just about all of your breathing room for the rest of the night. In record time no less." With relative ease Eia climbed onto the bed, sitting behind Brinia, the dryad's back to the larger woman's chest. Eia straddled her from behind, her own long legs draped over the edge of her bed. Brinia shivered at the feeling of Eia's fur covered thighs pressing against her own, but Eia knew that she'd get used to the sensation. "Speaking of pistils, I hope yours aren't too delicate~"

Brinia's whole body shuddered. She had been too lost in thought, worrying about the safety of her people, to notice that Eia had taken off her own garments as well. For the first time, Eia's naked body was completely unveiled.

There was something at least vaguely comforting about the familiar shape of Eia's body. Brinia was expecting something anthropoid, whatever form 

that may have taken, but she was surprised by just how human it was.

The wendigo's appearance was exotic, from the fur covered rabbit legs to the antlers that Brinia once thought were a part of the creature's mask. But from Eia's hips up to her neck she looked remarkably human, her strange clawed hands being the only notable exception. It all just looked human, her skin naturally tan and soft, if admittedly a little bit hairier than normal.

"You'll be glad to know that my  _ pistils _ aren't nearly as delicate as you might think. I assure you that my flower is most certainly not the friendliest flower you'll find on the forest floor-"    
Brinia found herself promptly hushed by the unwanted intrusion of Eia's finger in her mouth. Eia only had ten fingers, and they would soon all be decorated with their own ring, one for each of her brides. The only one left without was the index finger on her right hand, which was just about as far down the dryad's mouth as it could go on its own.

"It seems like you've still got some poison left in you~" Brinia felt her head being gently tilted backwards into Eia’s chest, the wendigo’s index finger threatening to scratch the inside of the dryad’s throat. “I do enjoy my slaves being feisty from time to time, but tonight I’m afraid that I’m going to have to siphon that zeal out of you~”

Brinia was practically choking on just one of Eia’s fingers, struggling not to gag. She desperately wanted to bite the wendigo’s fingers off more than anything else, if the beast didn’t have a finger for her, maybe she couldn’t be claimed. 

_ But that would get them all killed. _

Brinia went limp, letting Eia handle her without resistance. She knew very well if she did something as stupid as biting Eia’s fingers off, she’d end up getting the whole village of Thorn slaughtered.

“Spread your legs.”

Brinia did as she was told, even if it stung. She wasn’t about to let her people down after only a single day, and Eia was explicit in what it was she wanted from the dryad, all Brinia needed to do was listen to her and do exactly as she said, even if it killed her, and she almost hoped it would. 

“I’ve already done most of the work forging your collar, all that’s left is the fun part~” Eia slowly slipped her finger out of the dryad’s mouth, tracing her wet fingertip all the way down to Brinia’s little flower. The way Brinia squirmed as she failed to keep herself from both coughing and flinching amused the wendigo. Eia retrieved the very same leather gag from the bed that Brinia had been wearing when she’d awoken that morning, holding it out in front of the girl’s face.

Eia was going to be merciful to the poor dryad, she wanted to make it impossible for Brinia to disobey in the first place, to save the poor fairy from having to watch her village burn on her first day. “Open your mouth.”

Brinia grinded her teeth, looking down at the gag. She remembered how it felt in her mouth, and she was not at all excited for it to go back in there. Still, she had to. It was the only way. 

_ Good girl~ _

Eia tightened the gag around the dryad’s mouth as much as she could, ensuring that it couldn’t fall out no matter how hard Brinia struggled. “There. No whining and no complaining means no dead villagers tonight~” Brinia did find some solace knowing that she couldn’t say something out of line if she couldn’t speak at all.

Eia held the collar in front of Alistora’s face.    
It was made of black metal, having been forged from a piece of the wendigo’s antlers that she’d snapped off of her antler earlier in the day.    
She opened it, pressing the heavy metal up against Brinia’s throat and snapping it shut around her neck.

In an instant, it felt as if Brinia couldn’t breathe. The collar did nothing to physically prevent her from doing so, but the feeling of it made her heave.    
The collar was nothing more than a symbol of slavery, the sign of a possession. It signified that the once mighty Brinia Alistora had now become less than a person. She was nothing more than the property of Eia Madaerie. 

“Hands behind my head, Alistora.”   
Brinia’s hands were trembling, but she listened, holding her hands up behind the wendigo’s head, feeling the larger woman tie them together, her wrists once again bound, her body completely defenseless from the monster’s touch. 

“I said spread your legs.” Brinia whimpered, realizing that she’d instinctively closed her legs without realizing it. She heard the wendigo growl into her ear, feeling Eia grab her left thigh and forcefully spread the dryad’s legs for her. “And keep them spread!!”

Eia watched the smaller creature tremble with fear. She didn’t want to hurt the dryad. She wanted to tame the dryad.

Eia rubbed Brinia’s labia with her fingers, hearing her whimper at even the slightest touch. “My little flower is sensitive after all~” Eia taunted the poor girl, spreading her quivering little lips and slowly slipping a single finger inside of the dryad’s tight little slit.  _ Very good~ _

“All of my brides have made their own magic on my fingers, and you will be no exception~”

Eia pressed her index finger even further into the dryad’s delicate little flower, making the poor girl squirm in the wendigo’s lap.

Brinia choked back her tears, her tiny little quim convulsing on Eia’s finger, unable to contain her noises, unsure of whether she was whining or moaning. Every inch of skin was burning, her body had never been violated like this before. The sensation of the monster clawing at her insides was horrifyingly tantalizing. The dryad knew she wasn’t getting out of this unscathed, but she was choking, suffocating on the fear and humiliation of squirting her fruity liquids into the palm of her captor. Eia Madaerie’s fingers were magic in every sense of the word.

Eia hushed the dryad, pumping her fingers in deeper, every moment getting easier as Brinia’s cunt slowly began to drip, letting the wendigo slide her finger in all the way to her knuckle while she rubbed the girl’s clitoris with her thumb, feeling the dryad’s whole body tense up.    
  


_ No!! Stop. I can’t do it!!!  _ _  
_ Brinia was practically shouting into the leather gag, begging for Eia to stop. The feeling of letting Eia penetrate her with even a single finger was absolutely unbearable to her. She couldn’t keep doing this, pinching her eyes shut, unable to watch what Eia was doing to her.    
She could smell the scent of her own cunt, her juices spilling onto the bed beneath her, dripping onto her thighs. The usually delightful smell of her own flower was like acid to her senses now, she could still picture exactly what the fiend was doing to her down there, and it was siphoning more than just the poison out of her, she was choking.

Eia pressed the palm of her other hand against Alistora’s thigh, curling her fingers around her skin and squeezing it, the dryad’s delicate skin like dough in her hand as she massaged it, only making the girl’s whining and moaning worse.

A moment later, that very same hand was curled around the girl’s throat, threatening to actually choke her if she wasn’t careful. Brinia could feel the cold steel of each of Eia’s rings against her skin and quickly silenced herself, hoping for mercy. She was thankful that the finger Eia chose to puppet her with did not yet have a ring on it. 

She could feel the heat between her legs. She just wanted it all to be over. 

Brinia had fought the wendigo and lost, she’d given in to the monster’s wrath and let herself be turned over to her. Now she was getting exactly what she deserved, the shame and humiliation of being fingerfucked by the monster was second only to the pain she felt knowing that she’d failed, she had let everyone she knew and loved down.

She didn’t deserve to call herself their protector, their guardian. She didn’t deserve to see any of their faces ever again, and how could she? How could she possibly ever show her face to them again, now that the wendigo literally had her wrapped around her finger?

Brinia gave in, letting out a soft mewl, the most pitiful sound she had ever made or heard, her wet slit convulsing in Eia’s hand as she arched her back, climaxing on the wendigo’s finger. 

She pushed her pride aside, bouncing on Eia’s finger, riding out the pleasure of her orgasm like a captive animal.

_ Good girl~ _

Eia continued for a few minutes, letting her new slave pleasure herself however she could, not wanting to spoil the poor girl’s orgasm for her~

Once it was all over, Eia stopped, letting the dryad’s body collapse against her in a whimpering mess of whimpers and near sobs. She kept her finger inside of the girl, continuing to play until she herself was satisfied. 

Brinia felt Eia slowly slide her finger out from her slit, the warm grooves of something metal rubbing against the inside of her delicate little flower, her labia quivering for more as the wendigo finally slipped her hand away from Brinia’s shame.   
Eia held her hand up before the both of them, admiring the sight of her victory.

Her finger had been naked when it slipped past the dryad’s labia for the first time, but right there at the base of her finger was a beautiful metal ring, forged by the magic of Brinia’s pleasure, a product of her shame and humiliation. She had a new place at Eia’s side, and the wendigo held her in the palm of her hand.

Brinia stared at it in disbelief, her eyes only half opened in the wake of her orgasm, the dryad’s little flower still aching for more, her pollens dripping onto the sheets beneath them. The wendigo smiled, rubbing the girl’s labia with her other hand now, pulling them both further back onto the bed, leaning up against the wall behind her, cooing at her new bride as she admired the ring.

_ My collection is now complete~ _

Brinia was practically falling limp in her lap, barely clinging to consciousness after everything she had been through today, and Eia wasn’t going to stop her.

The dryad hung her head in shame, wanting nothing more than to be eaten alive, but she was scared that the wendigo was more likely to eat out of her cunt than to show her the mercy of killing her for food.

She didn’t want to think about what it meant to be Eia’s bride, she didn’t want to think about what was going to happen next.

She couldn’t stand it anymore, she just wanted it to all be over. 

Eia realized that she wasn’t going to need the name Alistora anymore, she was one of the wendigo’s many brides, and she needed to be treated like the rest of them~

As a part of her family.

Eia smiled, giving the dryad a pat on the top of her head to show her affection.

“You belong to me now, Brinia~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a monstrously long chapter, and I am so proud of it~
> 
> For anyone who is keeping track of all of Eia's brides, there were 4 / 10 of them this chapter.  
> If anyone has comments, please tell me what you think-  
> I want to know whether I should keep it up with introducing more of the other girls, or if I should focus more on Brinia and Eia?
> 
> I know I would appreciate if anyone reading would let me know if they want me to continue as well, I'm loving writing this stories, but it takes up a lot of my freetime-  
> So if you do like it and want to keep reading it, please let me know~ <3


	5. Burning Desire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eia’s new bride quickly finds that the ghosts of her past have come back to haunt her. One of Brinia’s new sisters is burning for revenge, and it’s not who she expects it to be.

“Rise and shine, little flower~”   
  
Brinia had struggled to fall asleep. Eia hadn’t bothered to remove any of her restraints after eagerly fingering the dryad’s delicate pistil, and the last thing she remembered was Eia growling at her for making just a little bit too much noise as she struggled to find any comfort in having her arms bound behind the wendigo’s neck, unable to move them thanks to Eia’s antlers. She was at least glad to see that Eia had removed her restraints before finally waking her up for the day. 

Brinia didn’t really know what to say to Eia after a night like that, and she wasn’t sure whether it was her place to say anything at all. She could still feel the wendigo’s fiendish fingers inside of her, the dryad’s sweet little cunt was aching with pain after an orgasm like the one that Eia had delivered her. 

Brinia hadn’t been a virgin, but in her many decades serving as the guardian of the forest, she had gotten a little bit out of practice, her quim hadn’t been touched by another creature in years. She wasn’t sure what she was more ashamed of, letting herself be conquered and enslaved by a monster, or giving in and cumming directly into the monster’s hand. Whichever it was, Brinia prayed that death would come for her soon.   
Brinia caught the slightest glimpse of movement in her averted eyes and turned to see Eia setting down a small tray before her. “You somehow look less alive than Arleena. Eat.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that either, but one thing she knew for sure was that she did not have the willpower to stomach breakfast right now. 

  
This wasn’t going to be any fun for Eia if she just sat back and let her new bride slowly starve herself, especially after deciding to offer some of her own food to the girl. Growling in her ear much like the night before, Eia curled her fingers into the dryad’s hair, tightening her grip. “Do you not know what a slave is, Brinia?”

Feeling the wendigo’s grip tighten in her golden locks, Brinia did her best to look over at Eia with her eyes alone. “I’m aware of the position I find myself in.” Her words were cold and dispassionate, neither answering the question at hand or outright ignoring it, offering little more in the way of an answer than simple acknowledgement.  
Unamused, Eia leaned the girl forward, gently pressing her face into the sheets beneath her. “When I instruct one of my slaves to do something, I expect them to do it. Especially when it’s something so simple as feeding themselves.”   
Brinia grunted, only finding herself able to further bury herself in the fur covered sheets. If she tried hard enough, maybe she would suffocate. Maybe Eia would prefer speaking with a literal corpse, she would sure get a lot more out of it than addressing the uncaring husk of what used to be Brinia Alistora. 

“Your sister made that meal just for me, and I won’t be letting it go to waste.” Eia lifted the girl’s head off of the sheets below, tilting Brinia’s gaze back to look at her.“If you’re helpless, then I’m more than willing to hand feed you. Now, can you feed yourself, or are you helpless?”  
“I’m not hungry, but thank you.” Brinia shivered at the idea of eating from Eia’s hand, especially now that it was covered in the dryad’s shame.   
“That wasn’t the question.” Eia snarled, letting go of the dryad’s hair. “Feed yourself, before I do it for you.”   
Leaning over the tray and beginning to pick at the food, Brinia braced her intestines for whatever fiendish delicacy she was about to force them to take part in. Wordlessly and joylessly staving off a merciful death by starvation. The dryad’s reluctant but eventual submission didn’t seem to satisfy her more than patient handler, however.   
“When I tell you to do something, you do it, without hesitation or complaint. But your submission will be immediately preceded by a prompt and earnest acknowledgement-” The wendigo reached for the dryad’s collar, watching the look on her face grow worried as she grasped at strings trying to think of the correct response. “The words you are looking for are ‘Yes, Master.’”   
The dryad felt her throat tighten up again, the choking feeling returning to take her breath away as the woman of her nightmares tightened her grip on the slave’s collar, only barely able to find the breath to speak again.   
“Yes, Master.” The words dripped off of her tongue like acid, the vile taste quickly powdering over the taste of whatever it was she was eating. “Yes, Master.”   
She said it again, as if trying to practice some sort of demented sword swallowing trick.   
Brinia watched Eia smile. She was sure that it wasn’t the same sort of evil grin that she had given her when she threatened to lynch everyone Brinia had ever known, but she refused to believe it was anything more wholesome than that, there was no way that what the wendigo was thinking was wholesome. Nothing about this was in any way wholesome.   
“Now do as I say and eat, I assure you that a forced feeding would be a thoroughly unenjoyable experience, and several of your sisters can attest to that, just ask Noriza.”   
Unable to find any other words now, Brinia repeated herself. “Yes, Master.” Returning to her food, she had no desire to learn any more than whatever it was that the wendigo was saying. “Yes, Master.”   
  
“Good girl~”   
The words were like a gunshot straight to her ears. _Good girl._ She was sure she had heard Eia say the words before, but never to her.   
Eia was praising Brinia directly.   
It was like the air was being sucked from her lungs everytime she thought about it. The collar. She was becoming Eia’s pet, and she had the collar to prove it. 

Eia’s hands never left the collar. She could still feel the wendigo at her throat, grabbing a hold of her and not letting go, she couldn’t breathe.   
Eia was stealing her breath away and there was nothing she could do about it.   
Eia tightened her grip on the collar, watching the dryad’s eyes go wide with fear, looking up at the wendigo. 

Eia just wanted to take in the moment, trying to relish the morning after breaking in her tenth and final bride. It would seem like that would have to wait however, as Eia was suddenly and violently bombarded by a torrent of pain in the very same hand that was still locked in place around the front of Brinia’s collar. 

Eia released her grasp on the iron shackle that adorned her trophy’s throat, watching the dryad gasp for breath, looking up at the larger woman in confusion.   
She sighed. “Speaking of Noriza~”   
“What was that?” Snapping out of her trance, Brinia reached upwards, clutching the metal collar around her neck with both hands, creating the illusion for herself that Eia could no longer grab a hold of it, even if the wendigo was more than strong enough to pry the pixie’s comparatively tiny fingers free from her personal shackle. “What just happened?”

Deciding against immediately tearing away the dryad’s sense of security, Eia reached over and gave the girl a gentle pat on the head before holding out her hand to show her new bride the rings. “All of my brides are connected to me by their ring. This one is yours~” The wendigo showed off the ring on her right index finger, a black band between two metal rings, adorned with a charm in the shape of a flower.   
“And this one right next to yours is Noriza’s~” Eia moved on to the ring around the middle finger on her right hand, an identical metal ring with an ornate snowflake in the place of Brinia’s flower charm. “The important part is that whenever one of you is in pain… I feel it too.”   
Eia smiled, admiring the beautiful snowflake, bringing it to her lips and delivering a kiss directly to the charm on Noriza’s ring, hoping to help her bride feel better. “Noriza must be giving birth as we speak~”   
Brinia swallowed nervously, pulling her hands away from her collar, slowly regaining the ability to breathe. She wasn’t sure exactly why she was being told this, and she didn’t really want to know, but she listened. The druid had been getting bombarded by new information every moment of the last few days, and she wasn’t sure what was going to be important later. Yet Brinia still couldn’t bring herself to make small talk with her fiendish conqueror. 

Eia had gotten lost in thought as well, her attention drawn to her ring finger, and the skull and crossbones that decorated the small metal band, remembering the intense pain she had felt just a few nights prior. “I had thought she had given birth just a couple nights ago… But it turned out that one of my other brides had gotten injured instead…”  
 _Arleena._

Brinia knew exactly who she was referring to, and she still felt guilty about it. She had promised the wraith that she would help heal her once her restoration was back to full capacity, and it appeared that Eia hadn’t forgotten about that agreement.   
Pinching the charm on her left ring finger with her other hand, Eia whistled loudly. It definitely seemed to Brinia that Eia could exert some amount of control over her girl’s just by touching their ring. The charm on her left ring finger was in the shape of a diamond, just like a proper wedding ring, that ring was the same ring she had used to exert her magic on Izona the previous night.   
“As you can tell, I clearly can’t be thinking about you at all times of the day. I have other brides on my mind as well, and they need just as much attention as you do.” Eia stood, leaving Brinia on the bed alone to finish her breakfast while the wendigo got dressed. “I’ve just sent for Izona. She’ll be here soon to take you back to the recovery chamber. I want Arleena as close to full health as you can manage, and I want it done as soon as possible.”   
“Izona?” Brinia nearly spat out the mouthful of food she had only just finished scooping into her mouth. Surely the pseudo-giant hadn’t forgiven her in such a short time. “Why Izona?”

“Because I said so~” 

↞✶↠

It only took a few more minutes for Izona to arrive at the wendigo’s private chamber, but by the time she did get there, Eia was already impatiently waiting to open the door for her, and Eia wasted no time sending the two girls off to complete their tasks, heading straight towards the waiting chamber to tend to her new kits.

“I apologize for just about killing you last night.” Izona said, almost sarcastically. “I realize now that what happened very well could have just been a freak accident, but I had better not see you with that staff again.”  
So caught up in her own thoughts and feelings, Brinia hadn’t even realized that she didn’t have it. Eia had taken the Hollow’s Heart from her and seemingly decided not to return it to the dryad. Brinia decided that it was probably for the best, having seen what it can do in the hands of a mundane creature. _Eia can handle it, I can live without it_ _  
_ “I’ll leave it up to Arleena whether or not she wants me to wait around outside, I imagine whatever ends up happening in there is going to be a pretty intimate affair.” Izona put her hand to the door, opening the path into the recovery chamber. “You won’t be able to open it up on your own. I don’t want you wandering away, so just knock on the door when you’re done.”   
Having learned her lesson from the previous night, Brinia responded promptly, this morning had only served to cement the things she had already learned. “Yes, big sister.”

“And you had better not hurt another one of my sister’s or I’ll have you put over **my** knee.”   
Brinia wasn’t sure if that was even allowed, but she thought it better not to question it.   
_I’d rather have you over my knee, that’s for sure-_   
  
Arleena was still in roughly the same spot that she had been the previous day, still unable to stand up and move thanks to her several broken bones. Ironically enough, the charm that adorned the wraith’s neck was of that same skull and crossbones that was indicated by her respective ring, secured to the ring of her collar.   
_Eia really isn’t subtle with her charms._ _  
_ “I hope you’re not here to finish the job~” Arleena chuckled to herself, looking up at the dryad with her nihilistic wraith eyes. “I don’t think i’ll be able to give you as good of a fight as last time~”   
“I’ve seen soldiers in worse shape than this.” Brinia sat down on the opposite side of Arleena, looking the wraith over. “Although I will admit, none of them have been dead.”   
“Never had to heal the undead, doc?” Arleena snickered.   
“I’m not sure my magic works on dead people~” Brinia gently reached towards Arleena’s face, brushing her silvery hair aside.   
“What’s the worst that can happen, I die again?” The wraith was clearly trying to bite back at her pain with an attempt at dark humor. “You never know until you try~”   
“I’ll give it my best shot~” Brinia pressed her hand against the nasty bruise on the zombie woman’s face. “This one is gonna scar either way.”   
“I was never really known for my good looks, even when I was alive~”   
“And how long ago was that?”   
“A while…”   
Brinia had definitely seen folks in worse shape than she had Arleena in, and she’d been able to patch them up just fine. Hobgoblin troops were ruthless, if you stood in their way you were sure to be mercilessly mowed down. She attempted to make small talk to distract the girl while she did her work. She could only hope that she could heal all of Arleena’s injuries without her magical staff.   
_An elf?_ Brinia brushed Arleena’s thin silver hair out of her face, gently cupping her bruised cheek and black eye in her hand, the two things having morphed into the same injured bump on the poor girl’s face, pulling back the curtain hiding Arleena’s pointed ears. A pretty girl like her shouldn’t be in a place like this. She should be out in some forest far away from here hunting game to help feed a small family of wood elves, not rotting away like some corpse. Even after death, the poor woman couldn’t manage to escape the cruel iron shackles of slavery.   
Brinia felt terrible about what she was about to do to her new patient. She had no intention of hurting the girl any further than she already had, but the process of nursing Arleena back to health was going to be even more painful for her. The collar wasn’t coming off, but everything else had to.   
“I need you to undress for me.”   
It was a big ask. Brinia knew that just the idea of it was probably mortifying to the woman. Here she was lying on the floor in agony, and the only person capable of helping her was the same person who left her in this state to begin with. 

Inflicting wounds was easy. Trading blows and clashing weapons, fighting was informal. The opponent’s were strangers, they had no need to know one another. In combat they wore a mask, not just to hide who they were, but also to protect themselves from knowing their foe. How could you possibly behead a man if you were able to picture the faces of the children he was leaving behind?  
The informality of battle was a mercy, but it was a mercy that had since been stripped away from the two women. Brinia could no longer hide behind her mask, and Arleena couldn’t either.   
As much as Brinia wished she could just point her staff and wipe away all of the mistakes she had made, her magic didn’t work like that. Even if her injuries didn’t run quite as deep as they did, she couldn’t just press her hand against the affected areas and make it all go away, it was going to be a whole body procedure. Healing her wounds was going to be considerably more intimate, and that alone was probably going to hurt the girl. 

The stunned silence that punctuated the absence of any response told Brinia everything she needed to know, and the humiliated look on the wraith’s face only made it worse. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, Brinia knew just how badly she had traumatized Arleena. 

Brinia was ashamed. Here she was asking the girl to do the impossible, asking her to expose herself, knowing fully well that Arleena’s injuries had rendered the wraith incapable of doing so.

Brinia wasn’t just asking her to remove her clothes, she was asking for permission to violate her even further.

“I know this is going to hurt, but I need you to let me do this to you.” Brinia’s hands trailed down to the bloodied and battered hide armors that Arleena was still wearing, quickly beginning to remove them. “I’m sorry Arleena, but I can’t give you a choice in the matter.”

Brinia felt like a monster doing it, but thanks to her years of experience she had the elf zombie stripped to her undergarments in a matter of minutes. What she was doing to Arleena made her feel like the wendigo, but unlike the wendigo, Brinia was ashamed of what was happening. On more than one occasion it occurred to her that the wraith may very well have preferred death over what was happening to her, just like Brinia had felt while being handled by Eia. 

Brinia looked over the woman’s mangled body, shuddering at the damage she had caused. Stripping the wraith naked was the easy part, what came next was the hard part. 

“This is going to be invasive, it’s not going to make any sense, and you’re going to feel violated.” Brinia took a deep breath, sitting at Arleena’s feet and carefully lifting the wraith’s shattered ankle into her hands, gently placing her lips to the wraith’s foot and giving it a kiss. “But I promise that it works, and I’m only doing this because it’s the only way.” 

Just the thought of it made Brinia blush, that’s how embarrassing it was. It sounded like something out of a literal storybook. She knew _why_ it worked, and was capable of explaining it, but it still sounded silly to her. 

_Kissing things to make them better._

Arleena’s twitched, pulling her leg from the dryad’s grasp almost immediately. This wasn’t at all what she had expected when she had agreed to this, but Brinia had already resolved to do it anyway, regardless of whether Arleena wanted this.   
“This is unpleasant for me too, but that’s only going to make this take longer.” She felt just like Eia, forcing herself upon a clearly unwilling victim, but she had no real choice in the matter, Eia was making her do this, and Eia was Arleena’s master too. “It’s okay if you moan, I’ve had it happen before.”   
Arleena forced herself to form some sort of response, still trying to make herself seem tough. “Takes more than some kisses to get me to moan.” 

Usually Brinia’s patients had the choice of whether or not they wanted to be subjected to something as invasive as this, but that was not a luxury that Arleena could afford. Normally when dealing with strangers, Brinia would imagine that she was kissing one of Fennecca’s scrapes or bruises away, but she couldn’t stand to picture the minx girl in any sort of sexual position, she just had to bite the bullet and get this over with.   
“It’ll be over soon, I promise.”

↞✶↠

As Brinia planted one final kiss on Arleena’s bruised cheek, she was at least glad that the wraith’s body was more lively than an actual corpse, it had made getting through the procedure quite a bit easier for the dryad. 

“All done I promise… No more kissing, no more touching, and most importantly no more hurting.” Brinia rose, taking a few steps away from the wraith, giving Arleena the chance to process her thoughts. 

“Thank you.” Arleena was still clearly distraught, but she had managed to compose herself enough to make small talk with Brinia towards the end. “Master has done worse.”

 _Right back at it with the dark humor._ “I’m not surprised…”   
“Are you really one of my sisters now?” The wraith’s voice indicated that Arleena herself wasn’t sure of whether she was pleased or disappointed with her master’s decision. 

Brinia paused. She knew that the answer to that was a pretty unmistakable yes, but she was still decidedly against the decision, not willing to admit the truth to herself just yet. “I don’t know.”

“I hate to say it, but that felt really nice…” Arleena sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back into the wall, relieved that it was finally over. “I’m sorry for moaning.”  
“Don’t worry, you aren’t the first~” Brinia smiled, making her way over to the chamber door and knocking for someone to open it for her. “I guess I’m just a really good kisser.”

“Someone’s been kissing my little doll, eh?” The door to the chamber slid open, pitting Brinia face to face with someone she wished she had never met before. But the shit-eating grin on the fire genie standing in front of her was unmistakable. 

“You…” Brinia hadn’t seen her in years, but she definitely recognized the woman who very nearly burned down the forest. _Her forest._

“Forgotten my name already, Alistora?” The ifrit scoffed at her, pushing her way into the recovery chamber, very nearly knocking Brinia over as she was forced to stumble backwards. “It’s Zaikana, and if you forget it again, I’ll string you up in flaming chains for the entire forest to see~”   
“I decide to do the sweetest thing I could think of, dragging myself into the kitchen at the crack of dawn to make my master some breakfast… And what do I find?” Zaikana shoved Brinia backwards, forcing her back to the wall, an angry snarl painted over her face. “A limp little dryad attached to her hip… With a collar around her neck.”   
Zaikana wrapped her fingers around the head of Brinia’s collar, gripping it tightly as she pulled the dryad up to her toes. “ **This** had better be a fucking joke.”

Brinia knew that the ifrit was exaggerating everything she said to anger her, but it was still making her blood boil, and it was very clearly making Arleena antsy as well. “Zaikana?! let her go-”

“Quiet sweetie, Mommy is talking.” Zaikana was harsh and cruel, but not uncaring. It was clear that the anger she felt towards the dryad was coming from somewhere, and Brinia had a pretty good idea of what that was. “I don’t know what you did to get Mistress on your side, but Cerilla will be hearing about this.”  
“Touch my little doll again and I will incinerate you **alive.** ” Zaikana lifted Brinia off of the ground by her throat, her burning hands choking the air from the dryad’s lungs. The ifrit’s hair flickered and swayed like a literal flame, the skin on Brinia’s neck threatening to burn off.

“Put her down, Zaikana.” As punctual as ever, Eia’s pseudo-giant handmaiden was practically right behind the flame elemental, her own pointed ears capable of hearing a knock on the door from clear across the den. 

Zaikana turned to face her, giving Izona a pretty mean glare before relenting. She dropped the dryad back onto her feet, watching the forest nymph cough and gasp for breath. “Fine.”

The ifrit was clearly not the only one who was enjoying the sight of Brinia getting choked. Despite the intimate moment the two girls had just shared, or perhaps because of it, Arleena couldn’t seem to contain her elation in seeing her assailant in pain. Izona couldn’t help but to crack a small grin as well, even though both she and Arleena had protested the action. It was apparent that Izona had been watching from the start, and only stepped in before the flame genie took it too far. The giantess was kind and resourceful, but she wasn’t opposed to a bit of fun. This was the kind of torment and humiliation that Brinia had expected from a life of enslavement, it just didn’t occur to her that it would come from the other slaves. 

Zaikana was by far the most difficult of Izona’s sisters, and even though Izona largely understood that what had happened between Arleena and the dryad was nothing personal, Zaikana didn’t seem to view it that way. It would seem that last night’s scuffle between Brinia and Izona had gotten in the way of Eia’s initial promise to confront the fire genie about her behavior, and Zaikana had proven herself impossible to reason with when she got this upset.   
_So this is what’s gotten you so worked up?_

“I know you’re upset about what happened, but Master already made her decision, taking it out on Brinia like this is only going to make things worse.” Izona gently took Brinia’s hand and helped the choking dryad back to her feet, putting herself between her and Zaikana. “You’re already in a lot of trouble anyways~”

“I don’t care what happens to me, if protecting our sisters is enough to get me in trouble, then I will gladly accept my beating!” Zaikana swiveled in place, turning away from the two of them, her hair whipping as if it wasn’t completely made out of fire. “-and if Master won’t punish Alistora for what she did, then I’ll be the one to give her what-for.”

“She **is** being punished for what she did, Zaikana!”

“She’s clearly not being punished **enough!!** ”

Brinia grinded her teeth, an angry lump caught in her throat just listening to Zaikana speak. It was a lot to take in all at once, especially now that it’s been three or four years since she thought the ifrit had disappeared completely. It was a shock to see that Zaikana was still alive, but it was a bigger surprise to see that the ifrit was more upset about what happened to Arleena, rather than being enraged about the fight that took place between them the last time Brinia and Zaikana had seen each other. She had never known the ifrit to care about anyone but herself, Zaikana was presumably just the strongest fire genie left after the hobgoblins had conquered the Flaming Sea, capturing Queen Kulgrantz and forcing the remaining elementals to flee.

The fire genies could have had a place in Thorn, but their leader was hellbent on burning down part of the Eternal Hollow in a selfish attempt to create a space for themselves. Brinia had tried to put a stop to them, but not before they’d partially succeeded in permanently her home. The Scorched Camps were an eyesore, and even though Zaikana had won that fight, there were no more ifriti left in the forest. Brinia had presumed that Zaikana died in the terrible storm that seemingly wiped out the rest of her group.

Brinia didn’t seem to be the only one bothered by Zaikana’s threats, as Izona’s attitude quickly shifted, and the words being exchanged grew into bickering, their voices echoing through the den’s largest chamber. 

That was, until mother got home from work. “That’s enough, you two.”

The hobgoblin’s voice was enough to overpower the both of them, forceful and loud while still being calm and confident. She quickly brought the argument to an end, seemingly without a hint of anger or annoyance in her voice. 

Izona sighed, turning away from the fire genie and gesturing towards the hobgoblin, finally giving the woman a proper introduction. “Brinia, this is your den mother, Cerilla.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you~” Brinia lied through her still grinding teeth. _A hobgoblin. Of course._ Hobgoblins always had an air of superiority about them, thinking that their sheer strength and numbers made them better than everyone else. _I just can’t get away from them can I?_

Cerilla simply nodded, giving Brinia a quick glance before turning her attention back to Izona.

“Would you please talk to Zaikana for me? I can’t seem to get through to her.” Izona was clearly quite frustrated that she seemed to be the only one trying to do anything about the situation.

“I’ve already spoken with her this morning, and I’ve done all that I care to do.” Cerilla gave the fire genie the same quick glance that she gave to Brinia. “Wrap up your little visit with Arleena, and then get back in the kitchen where you belong, Zaikana.”

Zaikana’s smug grin quickly turned into a flustered scowl. “Yes, Ma’am. I’ll make it quick...”

“And Izona-” Before Izona could even come up with a response to that, Cerilla put an end to the current scene. “I’d like to have a word with you, in my chamber.”

“Right now you mean?” Izona turned, glancing at Brinia. “Can you wait here for me, Brinia?”

“That won’t be necessary, actually.” Cerilla turned, beginning to head out towards the entry chamber. “I would like to have a word with you both.”

↞✶↠

“What’s this about, Cerilla?” Izona couldn’t even wait until she was fully inside of the den mother’s private chamber before questioning the hobgoblin’s motives. “Is there something you need to speak with Brinia about?”

“I have something I need to discuss with you, actually.” The hobgoblin was still vigilant and level-headed, refusing to get comfortable even in her own quarters.

“If it’s something important, why bring her here?” Izona held the door open, ready to dismiss the dryad if she decided that Brinia shouldn’t be here.  
“Because it’s **about** Brinia, and I think she should hear it.” The hobgoblin gave Izona a glare, and the pseudo-giant was doing as she was told even before Cerilla actually gave her the order. “Close the door.”

Compared to any of the other chambers that Brinia had been in, this one was comparatively small, but unlike the other chambers, this one was outside. The chambers of the wendigo’s den were huge domes hollowed out of the trunk of a massive tree, yet the den mother’s quarters seemed to actually be two small chambers hollowed out of the base of a completely different tree, smaller but still large enough to build rooms inside. It was very lightly furnished, being a reasonable size for a small group of people to sleep.

“Don’t defend her Izona, she doesn’t deserve your pity.” Cerilla was cold and blunt, just as Brinia would expect from a hobgoblin.

But Izona was having none of it. “Master left her in my care, I can’t just let her get hurt.”

“We all love and respect Eia and her decisions, but we all also have our own feelings about the dryad, not just Eia.” Cerilla took a seat at what looked like her desk, the smaller of the two chambers was quite clearly a war room. 

“But Zaikana-”

“Zaikana’s feelings are just as valid as yours are, Izona, and she is not the only one here who feels that way about Brinia, sister or not.”   
_That makes a lot of sense._ Of course Cerilla didn’t like Brinia, she should have been able to get that just from the glare that the woman gave her the previous night.

“I’m supposed to be teaching her.”

“Then teach her what it’s like to be at the bottom of the food chain, she has to learn her place somehow.” Cerilla once again interrupted the other girl. She was going to debrief Izona, and the giantess was going to listen.

“Master would not approve of this, Cerilla.” Izona stood even when the other two were both seated, Brinia having taken a seat behind where the giantess was standing.

“Master does a lot of things that I don’t approve of, and claiming the dryad is only her most recent mistake.” 

_You can say that again._ Even if she didn’t like the hobgoblin, she couldn’t argue with that. 

“You only disapprove of her decisions because you think that you should be the one who’s in charge.” Izona was full of passion where Cerilla wasn’t, delivering her words with emotion as she spoke.

“I may **wish** I was the one in charge, but I don’t **think** I should be the one in charge. I **think** that whoever proves themselves to be the strongest should be the one in charge.” Aggravated, Cerilla stood up from her desk, her voice filled with poison for the first time, hands flat on the table before her. “Forgive me for getting into harem politics, but like any self-respecting leader, I thoroughly believe that the superior creatures should be on top. That’s how hobgoblin society is, and that’s the way things should be.”

“You don’t live in Najistaire anymore, Cerilla.” Izona huffed, the den mother’s emotions only heightening her own emotional state.

“Najistaire or not, that’s how things should work, but things can’t be that way unless the lesser creatures learn to accept their place in the hierarchy.” 

The hobgoblin’s of Najistaire were born and raised in a military society. They were conquerors, and they believed that every creature had a rightful place in their hierarchy, and they were at the top every time, usually without fail. Though there were notable quirks in their way of thinking. Strangely enough, they were usually quick to bow down and submit to a superior officer, falling into whatever place in their own hierarchy that they viewed themselves to fit into. There were precious few races that Najistaire treated like proper people, the most notable outlier being halflings, who among goblins and bugbears, were the only race to have a place in the hobgoblin society without being proper goblin-kin. Yet somehow, in the unlikely event of a hobgoblin reporting to a halfling superior in rank, they were more than willing to serve below them. 

“Eia is on top because Eia is the superior creature. Eia is our master because she deserves to be our master. Lesser creatures need to learn their place, and I am no exception. What sort of general would I be if I couldn’t recognize my place beneath my superiors just as easily as I could recognize my position above those beneath me.” 

Cerilla quickly calmed herself, realizing that her outburst was unfitting of her former position. 

“So while I may **wish** that I was the one in charge, I will graciously accept my position beneath my master, because I have been taught where I belong. Just like you will teach the forest nymph where she belongs.”

Cerilla’s words made perfect sense to the hobgoblin, but to her pseudo-giant sister, she still sounded ridiculous. “So I should just let Zaikana assault her?!”

“The dryad needn’t just lie down and take it, if she doesn’t want Zaikana to assault her, she’ll fight back. But if she can’t stand up to Zaikana then she’ll just have to accept her place beneath her.” This was all incredibly simple to Cerilla, and she wondered why Izona just couldn’t get it. 

It was unsurprising to Brinia that Cerilla was once a Najistairean general, especially considering the way she thought, and the tone she took when speaking to her perceived subordinates. Cerilla was young, but she clearly had years of experience when it came to this sort of thing, hobgoblins usually enlist into the military as children after all. It was totally conceivable that Cerilla was the very same general that had been leading the hobgoblin’s assault on the Eternal Hollow over a decade ago, Brinia had never actually gotten to see the general unmasked, and that may have been why the den mother clearly had it out for the dryad. 

“Zaikana is supposed to be in the waiting chamber!! She shouldn’t even be out here!!” Izona on the other hand, was not a trained soldier, rather the opposite actually. She was so fiercely loyal to her master’s service that she had become emotionally invested in the wellbeing of each and every one of her sisters. The giantess was just as willing to fight for them as she was willing to fight for Eia. 

“If Valonda can’t find a way to bend Zaikana to her will, then Valonda shouldn’t be the Head of Family!” Flushed with anger, Cerilla’s face began to glow, and so did the charm on her collar.

“Is that why you haven’t done anything about her yet?” Izona spat back.

“Precisely! If Valonda can’t even convince Zaikana to take a moon off from her duties, then Valonda should get knocked down a peg!” Cerilla bared her teeth to the other girl, angrily sitting herself back down at her desk. 

“Do you even know how stressed all of this has made Val? Have you thought about how she feels? Do you even care?” Izona remained standing, looking down at the military veteran at her desk.

“Of course I care, I **LOVE** her!!! Just like I love you and Eia!!!” Noticing the growing red light emanating from her charm, the symbol of weapons crossed in front of a shield, secured to the ring of her collar, Cerilla and Izona both took a moment to calm down.

“I love you, Izona… and while I love Eia and accept her decisions, including her decision to pick Valonda as our third, I don’t always approve of them, especially knowing that in a little over two moons you and I will both be in the waiting chamber together… and **somebody** is going to need to take over as den mother while we’re both away… Eia doesn’t always think everything through before she makes her decisions, and it’s been considerably stressful for me to deal with.”

The ominous red glow of the hobgoblin’s collar seemed to fade away, as did the hostility in the air.

“I love you too…” Izona finally took a seat, giving up the fight to Cerilla, trying not to implode. “Alright… What do you want me to do?”

“Let her suffer.” Cerilla looked towards the still seated dryad, grinning at the girl before returning her gaze to Izona. “That’s an order.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” The hobgoblin’s words were enough to get Brinia out of her seat, now the only girl in the room standing. 

“Of course. I wouldn’t expect someone with your reputation to take anything lying down~” Cerilla chuckled, directly addressing her newest sister for the first time.

“Thanks for your concern, Izona. But I can handle myself… Magic or no magic, if Zaikana has a problem with me then she can say that to my face.” Brinia shook her head, turning back to Izona, trying not to show her anger to the hobgoblin. “And so can Cerilla.”

“And I will~” Cerilla leaned back in her seat, finally getting comfortable. “Though I will warn you Brinia, none of your other sisters have ever been able to top Zaikana… But who knows, maybe you’ll be different~”

Cerilla snickered, setting her feet up on the desk in front of her, the black leather boots shining in the light. “Maybe you’ll be able to oust Valonda as Head of Family~”

“That’s not something that Zaikana has managed to do yet~” Izona added, a smile growing on her face at the thought of someone new being able to top the fire genie. “She doesn’t know the first thing about having a family~”

“I hate to disappoint you both, but I have no intentions of _topping_ anyone.” Brinia turned away from them both, heading back towards the door. “All that matters is making sure that my people are safe. As long as I can protect them, then I don’t really care what happens to me.”

“So that’s how she got you, huh?” Cerilla sat back up, setting her feet on the ground. “You’re not doing a very good job of that, are you?”

“Look, Brinia…” Izona stood, walking to Brinia and setting a hand on the dryad’s shoulder. “I know you probably want to go back and be their protector, but… If you even try to escape, Master will be able to find you, thanks to your charm.”

Izona tried to comfort the girl, not knowing the full extent of what happened between Eia and Brinia. None of Eia’s other brides were aware of the agreement between the two of them, they had no way of knowing that Brinia’s submission was what was going to protect them. “Don’t worry… I have no intention to leave…” 

The dryad’s response seemed to satisfy both of the other women, signalling the end of the discussion to the hobgoblin. “I’m sorry that you had to see all of this, Brinia. But it was nice meeting you.”

Brinia scoffed, refusing to look at Cerilla. “Thanks. I wish I could say the same.”

“That’s fair, and hey- I hope you can teach Zaikana a lesson. If you don’t stand a chance against her, then there’s no way in hell you’ll be able to stand up to me… and that wouldn’t be any fun at all~” Even without looking, Brinia could picture the look on Cerilla’s face. “Enjoy suffering~”

  
Brinia and Izona made their way out, heading back to the entrance chamber, the dryad now the one fuming with anger at Zaikana. “Cerilla is right. I don’t need you to protect me, Izona. I have to figure this all out myself.”

Izona’s usual smile faded, turning into a much more stern impression, trying not to look the druid directly in the eyes. “Think you can handle yourself from here?”

Brinia nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. “Yes, but thank you.”

“I hope so~” 

Izona’s knuckles popped in her hands, leaving very little time for Brinia to brace herself before the giantess punched her square in the face.

↞✶↠

The sun eventually set, and with help from Izona, Brinia managed to navigate her first whole day as one of the wendigo’s brides. 

According to Izona, after the birth of a new wendigo kit, it was customary for Eia to spend her night attending to the new mother, as a reward to her bride for their performance. Since Noriza’s primary function was to breed, she spent the most time locked away in the waiting chamber, so she needed these nights alone with Eia~

Unfortunately for Brinia, this meant that she would have to spend her first night sleeping in the grand chamber where her sisters usually slept. Despite this, it was unusually empty in the grand chamber that night, it would seem that the dryad was going to be alone with Izona all night. Apparently a pair of Brinia’s new sisters were actually away from the den for the time being, helping release more of Eia’s kits into the wild, a thought that made the forest’s former guardian shiver. 

Since so many of Eia’s brides were either away or hiding from the dryad, there were no signs of Brinia’s other sisters. At least not at first~

“Hey, you two, wake up.” 

There was a faint light illuminating the grand chamber as Brinia and her mentor awoke. At first she assumed it to be a torch, but she quickly discovered otherwise. 

“Come on~” Where the fire genie’s head of hair was once completely made up of flames, it was now seemingly composed entirely of smoke. Though it did retain the ‘shaved on one side, long and wavy on the other’ punk rock style of look that Zaikana was going for. She did her best not to light up the whole room like a campfire, but her glowing eyes did sort of pierce through the darkness. “Wake up, I don’t have all night.”

Brinia was surprised she wasn’t just set on fire in her sleep, the dryad’s delicate leafy skin was especially flammable compared to other creatures, even if it did look just like that of a wood elf. The forest spirit wasn’t completely unscathed however, Izona’s giantess strength was enough to leave a black eye that lasted, even through Brinia’s restorative magic. Her snack sized big sister really knew how to clobber someone, and the dryad had spent up a lot of her magic healing the injured Arleena. 

“I don’t have all night. Come on, let’s go.” Zaikana was tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for the two of them to rise from their slumber. 

“What is it, Zaikana?” Izona rubbed her eyes, slowly waking up. The pseudo-giant was a particularly heavy sleeper, and did not very much appreciate her beauty rest being interrupted. “Can you please just go to bed?”

“Do you really expect me to be able to sleep while **she’s** here?” Zaikana crossed her arms, gesturing towards the dryad, who was still having trouble adjusting her eyes to the light.

“Good grief, honey.” Izona turned to look at Brinia, wincing at the sight of the bruise she’d left, resolving not to look at it until it healed. “She doesn’t have anywhere else to sleep, Zed. ”

Zaikana scoffed. “She can sleep in the village.”

 _The village?_ Brinia quickly sat up, looking up at the ifrit standing over her. “What about the village?”

“That sure got your attention, didn’t it?” Zaikana smirked, reaching a hand out to help Brinia to her feet. “Come on, let’s go to the village.”

“Wait, stop.” Izona rose to her feet first, her bush of tangled magenta hair floofing all the way down to her hips. “Like it or not, Brinia is here to stay, we’re not taking her back to the village.”

“I’m not stupid Izzy. I don’t like her being here, but we’re not releasing her.” Zaikana grabbed a hold of Brinia’s hand, forcing the dryad to her feet. “We’re just sneaking out to have a little bit of fun~”

“What are you planning, ifrit?” Brinia glared directly at the elemental’s glowing eyes, not liking the sound of anything she was saying. 

“Don’t be a stranger, Brinia. We’re all sisters here~” Zaikana grinned, blowing the smoke away from her face. “We’re just gonna go teach those villagers a lesson, show them not to mess with our family~”

“You can’t do that!!” Brinia shouted. If there were any other girls in the chamber with them, that almost certainly would have awoken them. “You can’t hurt them, that’s not allowed-”

Zaikana chuckled at the dryad’s frustration. “I don’t remember agreeing to that, do you Izzy?”

“I don’t think that’s the kind of thing you should need to have in writing, Zaikana. I feel like that’s just common courtesy.” Izona paused to think it over, still trying to mangle her hair into a manageable shape. “But no… I don’t believe there was any such agreement.”

“But Eia.” Brinia tried to protest, before her cries were promptly interrupted. “She wouldn’t allow-”

“ **Master** doesn’t strike me as the type of person who would care either way.” Zaikana’s grinned, doing her best to irk the dryad before turning towards the exit. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want her to kill **everyone**. But she really doesn’t have any reason not to~”

 _But she does._ Brinia bit her tongue, not wanting to admit to making a deal with the wendigo for her people’s safety. _She promised me._

“Now come on, we’re wasting time~” Zaikana’s voice echoed across the quiet chamber as she quickly approached the doorway. 

“Good luck with that Zed, you know that you can’t open that door unless Cerilla gives you clearance, and **I’m** not planning on opening the door for you~” Izona grinned, her eyes still foggy from just waking up. 

“That’s alright big sis, suit yourself.” Zaikana put one hand up to the wooden barrier, watching the shocked look on her sister’s faces as the door out of the den very clearly opened for her, with seemingly zero resistance. “I’m going either way~”

“Cerilla…” Izona’s shocked look was very quickly wiped away, replaced with an irritated yet unsurprised scowl. “What did you do…”

“I’ll try not to burn too many villagers to a crisp~” Zaikana stepped through the now open doorway, holding it open for the other girls. “Last chance you two, coming or staying?” 

_Fennecca…_ Brinia realized that it was no longer her job to protect her people, but she couldn’t just sit and let this happen to the one’s she really loved. She couldn’t let Fennecca get hurt. This was Brinia’s first test of her newfound submission to Eia, and it was a test that she was going to fail. “I won’t let you get away with this…” 

“Oh, won’t you?” Zaikana let go of the door, giggling in delight as she heard the dryad gasp, watching her leap into action, just barely managing to get to the doorway before it trapped her inside. Zaikana smirked, peeking through the door one last time. “What about you Izzy, want to help me torment some townsfolk?”

“No…” Izona finally stopped fiddling with her hair, slowly approaching the still open door, stopping just inside of the doorway for a few moments before reluctantly stepping into the entry chamber with the other girls, quietly closing the door behind her. “But I’ll come watch.”

“Fair enough. I guess it’s settled then~!!” Zaikana giggled, her hands glowing for a few moments as she set fire between her palms, creating a single burning strand between them, a chain of fire which she wielded like a rope in her hands. 

“Why do you want to hurt the villagers?” Brinia stepped between Zaikana and Izona, her face ablaze with anger, the black eye seemingly having cleared up thanks to her natural healing. There was no way she was going to let the ifrit hurt a single plant or animal in her forest, not without going through her first. 

“Poor Brinia… I’m not doing this to hurt the villagers…” 

With poise and precision, Zaikana swung forward, cracking the chain of flame at the dryad like a whip, before snapping her arm backwards, lassoing Brinia’s collar and causing her to pitch forward, dragging the girl directly towards her with a single elegant and refined maneuver. 

It was effortless for the ifrit, the time and distance of her strike perfectly calculated, deliberately knocking the archfey onto her hands and knees. Grovelling at the genie’s feet, right where she should be. The noble djinn had owned her fair share of slaves, and binding thralls to her burning leash was a trivial matter, even after years without practice. 

She reached a single finger beneath Brinia’s chin, tilting her head backwards, forcing the girl to face her directly. Smiling at the furious but panicked expression on the dryad’s face letting her know that she had been properly intimidated.

“I’m doing this to hurt you~” 


	6. Painting The Town Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are things that not even Eia knows about her brides, and a couple of her troublesome thralls have decided to teach the new girl a lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because i can not be bothered to wait a whole week before posting these things.

Brinia couldn’t breathe, but this time it wasn’t the wendigo that had knocked the air out of her lungs. 

Her throat burned, both with the anger boiling up inside of her, but also from the heat of the ifrit’s flaming leash hitched to the front of the dryad’s metal collar. 

“Who-” Brinia looked up and glared at Zaikana, watching the fire genie rise to her feet in front of her. “Who do you think you are?”

“As I’ve said, my name is Zaikana, but it would appear that perhaps a full introduction is necessary to help you realize your position~” Zaikana grinned, yanking on her chain of fire to assert her dominance over the grovelling Brinia.

“Remember my name, dryad. I am Kulgrantz Zaikana. The last noble djinn. Queen of the Flaming Sea.”

_ Queen Kulgrantz. That’s Queen Kulgrantz. She’s supposed to have been captured by the forces of Najistaire. She should be a slave to the hobgoblins, not to Eia. _

“How?!” Brinia shook off the pain, rising to her feet. “The Flaming Sea is hundreds of miles away, you were supposed to be captured by the hobgoblins, how could you be here?!”

Zaikana smirked smugly, still looking down at the dryad even while she was standing. “Because  _ I, _ dear Brinia, am the only known person to ever have staged a successful escape and slave liberation attempt in the history of the empire of Najistaire.”

Brinia paused, unsure if she believed what she was being told, but her doubts were shortly being put to rest.

“Zaikana is  _ unfortunately _ telling the truth, Brinia…” Izona rolled her eyes, walking past her wrestling sisters. 

“Wendigo’s slave or not, you’re on my leash now, Brinia, and that means you follow me~” Brinia stopped to try and process the reality of it, but before she could respond she was being yanked to her feet by the ifrit’s flaming chain. “Now come along before I burn your leafy little face off.”

Brinia grunted, lurching after the flame genie, her face burning with more anger than it ought to. “If you’re doing this to hurt me, why not just attack me instead?”

“Because I know how important your little villagers are to you-” Zaikana began her stroll towards the village, pulling Brinia along on a leash. “Attacking them will hurt you harder than I could ever hope to~”

“Please talk some sense into her Izona.” She said please, but she barked the words out like they were an order. For all that it was worth, Zaikana was completely right, and Brinia hated it. But this wasn’t part of her deal with Eia, she shouldn’t have to put up with it. 

“Who do you think you are giving orders like that?” Izona barked back at her, clearly not happy with the tone that Brinia was taking with her. “We’re going to the village, Zaikana. Make sure the dryad doesn’t get away, even if you have to drag her along the ground.” 

Zaikana furled her eyebrows at first, before softening her expression into something more playful, yanking on the dryad’s flaming leash. “Yes,  _ Ma’am~ _ ”

“The two of you may be noble spirits and queens, but in this world  **I** am in charge.” Izona kept walking, taking charge of the situation from Zaikana. “Now hold your tongue, or I will  **make** Zaikana do worse than just kill a few helpless innocents.”   
_ This can’t be happening.  _ Brinia looked on at the pseudo-giant in horror, she knew that Izona was still angry at her, but she didn’t expect her to take it this far.

“Now we had better make this worth my time.” Izona didn’t even turn to face the other girls, walking in the front of the pack. “I’m now invested in watching the dryad  **suffer** .”

“Oh Izzy~” Zaikana was practically swooning over the giantess, following after her with the dryad shortly behind. “I love it when you get all  **fiery** ~”

“You’ve woken me up in the middle of the night, so you’d better make it worthwhile.” Izona briefly turned, winking at Zaikana. “Or I’ll have to take it out on you~”

Just a few hours ago Izona was vehemently against letting Zaikana hurt her new sister, but now she seemed to be leading the charge on making the dryad suffer, and Brinia couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. Eia’s slaves seemed to have a weird connection that she didn’t understand, and it was unnerving to watch. 

_ What’s the matter with you? You can’t let them do this! Fight them!!  _

Brinia’s inner thoughts bounced around inside of her head, but they never made it to the point of being enacted. She wanted more than anything to take them both down where they stood, but without her weapon, it was almost futile, especially in the face of the former fire queen. 

  
The best she could do was drag her heels all the way to the village.

↞✶↠

The village was entirely surrounded by a thick forest barrier, a wall of trees that had magically sprouted from the ground in the span of moments, for the express purpose of keeping its citizens trapped inside, and it seemed no one had managed to break through that wall just yet.

_ No one has been hurt yet. _ It was a relief to see, but the wall wasn’t going to remain unbroken for much longer.

“Think I should torch it~?” Zaikana turned to Izona, clutching the flaming chain in one hand and a fireball in the other.

“No. You’ll just burn the whole forest down.” Izona shook her head, glancing back at the miserable dryad on the other end of the chain, smirking eagerly. “I’ll take care of it~”

Izona’s sheer strength was still monstrously impressive to Brinia, and watching the tiny pseudo-giant leap to a height four times her own was jaw-dropping.

She landed on the largest branch of the nearest tree, ripping it out of the tree from under her feet, swinging at the trunk on her way down, sending what remained slamming into the ground before even she did.

Brinia was justifiably impressed, but Zaikana was once again swooning. “You’re going to  **melt** me, Izzy~”

“And  **you** are going to melt the whole village down if you can’t keep it in your pants~” Izona landed on her feet next to Zaikana, smacking the ifrit firmly on the ass, sending her squeaking forward, yanking Brinia forward with her.

“Eep!!” Zaikana giggled, turning back and mewling at her. “It’s not my fault you’re feeding my fire~”

“Yes yes, I’m a heartstopper, I get it~” Izona sure did look tiny and cute on the outside, but on the inside she was still a giant. “Now take Alistora inside.  **I** don’t have all night either~”

It was almost sickeningly sweet how the two of them were getting along after getting into such an overheated shouting match first thing in the morning. It would seem that Izona had completely jumped ship on trying to protect the dryad, now firmly finding herself in agreement with Zaikana. Their relationship seemed impossible to Brinia, but she had no reason to say anything about it~  _ As long as they love each other, I guess? _

Brinia still wasn’t sure that what she was seeing was actually love, or just two weirdly flirty sisters. The idea of two slaves falling in love wasn’t an unwelcome thought, but it was still a strangely bizarre one. Something that the dryad hadn’t considered before.  _ I guess they don’t really get many choices… _

“Isn’t Eia going to get upset that you two broke down her barrier?” Brinia winced, getting pulled across the shambles of the foliage wall. 

“Wait… Mistress put that up?” Zaikana turned back to face Brinia, walking backwards into town as she continued to tug on the fiery leash. “I thought  **you** put that up to protect your little forest folk~”

“It does quite clearly look like the work of the Hollow’s Heart?” Izona stepped in after the two of them, turning around and trying to reassemble some of the broken mess that she had created. 

_ They don’t know. Of course they don’t know, Eia hasn’t told them. _

Izona shrugged, letting the ruins of the tree barrier be as she turned around, pinching one of Brinia’s ears between her titanically strong fingers. “And for the last time, you’re to address her as  **MASTER** . Get it right, Alistora.”

What was even more disturbing to Brinia was Izona’s seemingly unfaltering loyalty to the wendigo. Their relationship did look suspiciously like true honest love.  _ How can you be so loyal to a monster?  _   
Izona tossed her forward by the ear, sending her flying back to the ground at Zaikana’s feet once again, which greatly pleased the fire genie, who very promptly put a foot to Brinia’s back. 

“Oh I am SO glad that we’re doing this!!” She pressed down on the dryad, her foot directly between Brinia’s shoulder blades. Try as she did, Brinia was strong, but from her current position, no amount of resistance was going to stop her from buckling beneath the fire queen’s might. “I can’t wait to make you  **cry** ~”

_ It’ll take more than this to bring me to tears, flaming fiend.  _ Brinia held her tongue and growled through her teeth, pinned beneath the elemental’s boot.

“Where are we headed, Zed?” Izona quickly caught up with them, smirking at the sight of the dryad grovelling beneath her enforcer’s foot. 

“A little house on the edge of town-” Zaikana giggled menacingly, lifting her foot from Brinia’s back and sliding it beneath her, forcing her to sit up. “Where the dryad used to live~”

_ But that would mean… No!!  _ Brinia quickly leapt to her feet, there was no way that Zaikana could possibly know where she used to live, but if she did actually have her former address… Brinia shivered at the thought of it. “That’s not possible. How could you know where I live, you haven’t been around in years.”

“I have my ways, Alistora~” Zaikana smiled eagerly, the glowing red dots in her otherwise completely black eyes were burning a hole in Brinia’s eyes, the idea of going to the dryad’s former home was clearly getting under her skin. 

“Tishula’s slime hag, huh?” Izona giggled to herself, shaking her head at Zaikana’s attempt to be ominous. “I sure hope she’s enjoying being out of her enslavement, because her former owner sure isn’t~”

“If Tishula’s just gonna bend over and suck my toes, she doesn’t deserve to own slaves in the first place.” Zaikana yanked Brinia along, walking directly in the direction of the former guardian’s home.

“Says the ifrit who freed all of her slaves~” Izona taunted her, following the fire genie’s lead.

“As queen, I liberated all of our slaves to give the Flaming Sea a better chance at biting back at those nasty hobgoblins.” Zaikana snarled at her, pulling Brinia closer to her. “I’m still perfectly deserving of handling slaves, as you can see~!!”

↞✶↠

“We’re here.”

Much to Brinia’s dismay, the fire genie handling her leash marched the three of them straight to the clearing outside of her front door. 

_ No… _

“Judging by your reaction, I’d say Zaikana’s got the right place, huh?” Izona stood and faced Brinia, shaking her head. “You really should try to cooperate with us, we’re your sisters now.”

Brinia’s stomach churned, dreading the moment the two other girls found out what was inside. “What are we doing here anyways Zed?” Izona turned to Zaikana, a fireball already in hand. 

“I thought we’d start off easy~” Zaikana tossed the small fireball into the air before catching it in her hand. “I’m gonna burn her house down-”

“No.” Brinia’s whole body trembled as she tried to stop the fire genie from burning the small wooden shack to the ground. “Please don’t.”

“It’s just a building, Brinia.” Izona’s lifted an eyebrow, looking over the dryad’s desperate expression in confusion. “You have a new home now~”

“You got something valuable inside, Alistora?” Zaikana, on the other hand, was picking up on what the dryad was really feeling. “Some pets or something?”

“No, I…” The thought of keeping pets was ridiculous to Brinia, but she couldn’t let Zaikana figure out what it really was that she was so worried about. “There’s nothing valuable inside, I just…”

“If there’s nothing valuable inside, then there should be no problem~” Zaikana reeled back, getting ready to toss her flaming projectile at the roof of the building.

“Stop it!!!” Brinia leapt forward, grabbing a hold of Zaikana’s arm before she could hurl the flaming sphere at her home. “Please…”

“Someone’s got something inside that she doesn’t want to tell us about~” Zaikana snickered, extinguishing the bolt of fire in her hand and yanking on Brinia’s chain, slamming her back to her knees. “On your feet, bitch. Let’s go see what’s inside shall we?”

Brinia kept herself firmly planted in place, grabbing a hold of one of the fire genie’s legs in an attempt to get her to stop. “You’ve made your point. Can we please go back to the den?”

“Not till  **I** get to see what’s inside~” Zaikana giggled, putting her hand around the dryad’s throat and lifting her onto her feet once again.

The sounds of excitement outside the house were very clearly silenced however, as the three of Eia’s brides picked up on the sound of somebody opening the door to the house from the inside. What greeted Brinia and the other two girls was the face of a very familiar minx woman, young and beautiful.

_ Fennecca… _

“Hello?” The coyote girl’s face lit up with excitement and relief for a few moments as she laid eyes on the dryad, before quickly turning to a look of concern and terror as she saw who was on the other end of Brinia’s leash. 

“Well hello there~” Zaikana smiled eagerly, strolling towards the door and dragging Brinia along behind her. “Oh Alistora!! You didn’t tell me you were married!! We would have invited her to the festivities!!”

“I’m  **not.** ” Brinia spat back with ire, and for what it was worth, it was the truth, even if Zaikana clearly didn’t believe it. 

Fennecca shot a quick glance between Brinia and the fire queen, trying to gauge the proper response to the current situation. “I- I’m sorry… I think you have the wrong house…”

_ Why are you such a terrible liar… _

“Oh don’t play dumb with me, shortsnout~” Zaikana taunted the coyote girl, stepping up to the front stairs of the house, yanking on the flaming chain. “I’m guessing our little Brinia didn’t tell you to expect visitors, huh?”

“N-no…” Fennecca swallowed nervously, trying not to look at Brinia in her current state. “She didn’t…”

Zaikana shot the petrified minx lady a wink before pulling the dryad all the way to her side. “Well come on, let’s step inside and-”

“I don’t like this, Zaikana.” Izona stood unmoving out in front of the house, not sure whether or not she wanted to go inside. “I think hurting her family might be a bit much.”

“Oh come on, Izzy. You were married once too~” Zaikana forced her way into the house, blowing smoke into the coyote woman’s face, Brinia and Izona following the two of them inside closely after. “We’ll just do like Master did to Ollik and get rid of her.”

“Ollik was a different situation, Zaikana.” Izona bit back angrily. “I’m pulling the plug on  **this** .”

The hair on the fire genie’s head quickly turned into proper flames “Don’t you dare-”

It was too late to stop Izona however, as Brinia watched the pseudo-giant do something very similar to what she saw Eia do to summon her handmaiden just that morning. Instead of using a ring however, Izona curled one hand around the charm on her collar and whistled loudly, and Brinia could only presume it was a mechanism for summoning her Master or alerting the wendigo of something.

“What a buzzkill!!!” Zaikana snarled angrily, stepping away from Brinia and heading further into the room, a small fireball in hand. “I should have known Cerilla couldn’t get past your stupidly thick barbarian skull!!”

“So Cerilla  **is** in on this.” The giantess crossed her arms.

“Of course Cerilla is in on this!!” Zaikana shook her head in disbelief. “Who do you think let me have door access?!”

“I-I’m sorry… But… Who are you people?” The bitter rivals turned fiery lovers turned bickering couple were promptly interrupted by the voice of their current host, the coyote woman. “Why are you here? Why is m-”    
Fennecca shot a quick look over at Brinia, seeing the dryad shaking her head at the poor terrified woman.

_ Sweetheart, no… _

“Why is Brinia with you? What do you want with her? Wh-” Fennecca swallowed nervously, taking a moment to collect herself, trying to make sure her voice doesn’t crack. “Where’s the wendigo?”

“The wendigo is  **apparently** on her way~” Zaikana loosened her grip on the leash, walking behind the minx woman, her eyes fixated on the young lady’s beauty. “You have little miss spoilsport over there to thank for that… Go ahead, why don’t you serve us some tea while we’re waiting, maybe you’ll get to meet her~?”

Fennecca looked over at Brinia, searching for some signal of what she should do. Brinia simply smiled at her, glancing over at the other room, trying to draw the minx’s attention to something. “Go ahead sweetie, do as they say… There should be something in the situation room to help.”

The minx woman nodded, heading off into the other room. But Fennecca’s tail was only barely through the doorway into the other room before Zaikana’s flaming fist was clasped around the dryad’s throat, lifting her off of the ground. “What’s in that room? What did you just tell her, dryad?”

Brinia could feel her skin beginning to catch flame, shaking her head at the ifrit, barely able to breathe. “Nothing-”

The tense situation between them was pierced by the shocked gasp of Fennecca, returning to the main room with a tray of serving supplies in hand. Zaikana took just a moment to look the girl over, before shaking her head and dropping the dryad onto her knees on the floor, placing her foot on the back of Brinia’s head. “And stay grovelling.”

“I- I’ll start the tea then…” Fennecca sat down on one of the sofas, setting the supplies on the table in front of her, promptly joined by the fire genie taking a seat right next to her. 

“Sorry for barging in like this, I suppose~” Izona took a seat across the table from either of them, directing Brinia to the floor at Zaikana’s feet. “We’re not here to hurt you… we’re just trying to teach our new sister a lesson.”

“Speak for yourself Izzy~” Zaikana curled one finger in the minx woman’s hair, placing her foot on the flaming chain to keep Brinia firmly planted to the floor at her side. “Do anything sneaky, and I’ll turn you to ashes, doll~”

_ She wouldn’t…  _ Brinia swallowed nervously, unable to rise from her current position. 

“Right… I’ll make sure it’s not sneaky then.” Fennecca dropped the teapot onto the floor, very nearly shattering it as she leapt to her feet and bolted to the front door. Unfortunately, she only managed to get one foot out of the door before her wrist was caught in Izona’s grasp, quickly beginning to pull her back into the room.

**_BANG!!!_ **

There was a loud popping sound immediately preceding a cloud of red smoke on the ground outside, Fennecca’s now emptied hand outstretched as she watched her magical flare beacon soar into the air, followed by an explosion of bright light that briefly engulfed the village in a red glow.

“That’s it, she’s dead!!!” The fire genie stomped towards the minx girl, yanking Brinia on the chain behind her.

“No please!!!” Brinia jumped to her feet, putting her whole body behind a charge, slamming Zaikana into one of the walls, tears welling up in the dryad’s eyes. “You can’t hurt her.”

“And why not?!” Zaikana lifted one foot, catching the loop of the leash and stomped it to the ground below, slamming the dryad into the ground. “Why shouldn’t I hurt her, dryad?!”

“Because Eia promised she’d protect them!” Brinia pleaded desperately, tears rolling down her cheeks, the whole room suddenly going silent.    
Zaikana lifted her foot off of the flaming leash, looking down at Brinia in confusion. “She promised to do what?”

The dryad needed a moment to catch her breath, her skin dangerous close to being lit on fire. “I made an oath to give myself up to Eia for as long as she protected them… I swore to serve her so that the village could live…” 

There was a collective sound of shock as everyone in the room took in what the village’s protector just said. 

“Shit, I… I didn’t know…” Zaikana’s eyes widened with a sudden urge of fear and regret, turning to Izona, desperately trying to figure out what to do. “I don’t actually want them all to die, I-”

Unsure of what to do next, Izona let go of Fennecca’s wrists, watching the minx girl promptly run off out the door. 

But she didn’t get very far into falling into someone else's grasp.

_ A yeti? _

Brinia had seen yetis before. There were several of them living inside of the village’s walls, but she was very certain that she’d never seen this yeti before. She couldn’t know for sure who this woman was, but it didn’t seem like she was summoned by Fennecca’s distress signal, judging by how she was now gripping a hold of both of the minx’s wrists with her much larger and furrier hands. 

“Look Izona!! Mama caught a puppy~!!!” The yeti woman smiled eagerly, very obviously wanting to wave at the giantess, if only she didn’t have her hands full. “Hi puppy~”

The collar around the yeti’s neck finally caught Brinia’s eye, as did the ornately carved snowflake charm secured to the front of it.

“Noriza?” Izona stepped through the door towards the yeti, looking around the clearing. “But that means-”

“That means you’re in trouble.” Eia slinked out from the shadows, directly towards the fire genie standing in the doorway to the house. “You’re  **all** in trouble.”

  
Zaikana looked up at the masked wendigo above, starting to speak before Eia lifted her hand into the genie’s mouth, pinching the girl’s flaming tongue between her thumb and index finger. 

“If you weren’t pregnant with one of my kits, I would be breaking just about every one of your bones right now. Do you hear me?”

Zaikana could do nothing else but nod her head in acknowledgement, her Master’s fingers firmly pressed inside of her open mouth. It was very clear to Brinia that the bratty ifrit could easily be fighting back right now, but she was choosing not to, as evidenced by her sudden decision to drop the end of Brinia’s fiery leash onto the floor beside her, holding her empty hands up in front of the wendigo.

“I don’t know how any of you thought that you would be getting away with this, but I had better get a damn good explanation before I do something rash. I wouldn’t want to pluck your sisters tongue directly from her head.” 

Zaikana simply looked on at her master in horror, hoping that one of her sisters explains what’s going on, pinching her eyes closed and trying not to let her knees buckle under the pressure. 

“It was me, Master.” Izona stepped forward, not wanting Eia to irreversibly maim her hotheaded little sister. “Zaikana wanted to get back at Brinia for hurting Arleena and… I decided to open the door and let her instead of telling you… I’m sorry.”

“To your knees slave.” Eia growled under her breath, watching Izona obediently fall to her knees as the wendigo released the ifrit’s tongue, turning to Zaikana and growling at her to do the same. Sending the two girls to kneel beside Noriza’s feet as she moved on to the dryad. 

“And you, Brinia…” Eia stepped towards her, casting her mask aside so that the dryad could see the fury in her face. “With everything you have at stake… You decided to leave my den?”

The dryad had no words to say. There was no adequate answer that could possibly come out of her mouth to fix this situation. So she settled on pleading for forgiveness instead.

“Please, Ma’am… I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again. Please don’t hurt her…”

_ Her? _ Eia’s ears flicked curiously, her head looking around to see who it was that Brinia was talking about, her eyes finally landing on the sight of that very same minx woman from the morning before. “You…”

Fennecca flailed to no avail, unable to escape the iron grasp of Noriza’s muscular hands.  _ Uh-oh… _

“You never answered my question, dearie…” Eia’s hand gripped at the minx’s wrist, prompting the yeti to release the girl to her master’s grasp.

The young woman struggled against the monster’s grip, expecting to have a better chance at getting away, but discovering just the opposite. “Y-your question?”

Eia growled, spinning the girl around and slamming her back into the wall of the house beside the entryway, standing between the minx girl and the horrified Brinia in the doorway. "What's your name?" 

Fennecca grunted, looking over at Brinia for help before meeting Eia’s snarling gaze, bending to the wendigo’s will, like all creatures did. “Fennecca Alistora…”

Eia turned her head and growled at Brinia, hearing the terror in the dryad’s voice. “And you didn’t think to tell me about this?” 

“Please Miss Eia…” Brinia stepped towards the growling wendigo, holding her hand out to the pair of them, wanting nothing more than to reach out to her Fennecca and tell her that it was going to be okay. “Please spare her… she’s so young…”

Something about the way that Brinia and the woman looked at each other was strange to Eia, it was akin to something more platonic than romantic. She placed one finger beneath the minx’s chin and tilted her head back like she had done to the dryad so many times before, holding the girl’s left wrist in her other hand. 

_ No collar around her neck… No ring on her finger… _

She looked Fennecca dead in the eyes, pondering her whole existence over. “Who is she to you?”

Fennecca froze in place, glancing over at the dryad with tears in her eyes. Brinia was the one to speak.

“She’s my daughter.”

There was a collective ‘ _ Oh shit’ _ as the crowd’s collective expectations were suddenly and simultaneously shattered. 

“Is that so?” Eia’s growling ceased as she turned her gaze back to the dryad’s supposed daughter, her muscles stiff as she tensed up against the wall behind her in fear. She had expected as such, the way that the two of them had been looking at each other told her that the situation wasn’t quite cut-and-dried, but she still needed to make sure. “Your mother isn’t lying to me, is she?”   
Fennecca swallowed nervously, nodding her head in desperation. Evidenced by the discovery that the minx woman was apparently a  **terrible** liar, Eia could be sure that she was telling the truth, even without hearing her voice.

Oh, how wicked it would be to strip the poor girl bare and rape her right here in front of her mother, just to punish the dryad. It would be easy, the girl was completely powerless in the wendigo’s grasp, just like Brinia had been. 

“Fennecca honey, I’m so sorry.” Brinia was too nervous to take a step towards the two of them, knowing that in an instant the wendigo could rip her daughters head off, or worse, rape her.

Eia decided against it, however. She wanted to punish Brinia for her disobedience, but this was clearly a case of the dryad acting out of a weird emotional connection that she had between her and her child. A connection that Eia did not have. The wendigo mother couldn’t understand the idea of loving one’s own biological children, let alone choosing to take in and love an adopted one. 

“Do you know how easy it would be to tear through your furry little cunt, minx?” Eia tightened her grip on Fennecca’s neck, running her finger along the girl’s skin.

Brinia let out a choked gasp.  _ Anything but that, please.  _ “She’s my only daughter Eia, please-”

“It’s alright, mom. I can handle it.” Eia was about to cut the dryad off for once again addressing the wendigo by name, but the minx girl got to it before she could. 

“I’m an adult. If I can’t stand up to bullies on my own, how can I ever hope to fight for myself when the hobgoblin’s eventually come for me.” Fennecca smirked nervously, working up the courage to bite back, ever so slightly. It was evident that she would also rather something happen to her than to Brinia, she must have learned that from her mother. “Go ahead wendigo, do what you want, rape me. I can take it.” 

“Clever girl, just like your mother.” Eia grinned with delight, almost proud of the girl’s newfound zeal, she wished she could stick around to watch it be broken. “You’ve been taught well~”

“I learned from the best.” Tears still in her eyes, the young woman smiled, bracing herself for what was about to happen.

_ Fennecca, no… _ Brinia couldn’t stand watching, but she couldn’t just turn her head and look away. She couldn’t let this happen to her daughter. 

Eia wanted to do nothing more than give the minx what she was asking for, but she wasn’t the one that the wendigo was seeking to punish, Brinia was. She knew very well that the moment she laid one finger on Fennecca’s own flower, the dryad would leap into action to try and fight her, even if she knew she would lose, and that would only end up getting Brinia in even more trouble. Eia had half a mind to test Brinia’s endurance, but she didn’t want the dryad to fail her. 

“Let this be an example of how merciful I can choose to be…” Removing her left hand from the girl’s neck, she held out her open palm towards the dryad expectantly. 

Brinia stared at her master’s paw for several moments, trying to figure out what it was she was asking for, until suddenly she realized the answer was staring her in the face, threatening to burn at the dryad’s delicate leafy skin.  _ The leash- _

Once she figured out what Eia was asking for she wasted no time in scrambling to pick the opposite end off of the ground. The skin on her palms were quite literally set ablaze in the process, but she promptly delivered the flaming chain to the wendigo’s waiting grasp. 

Eia gripped the flaming leash in her left palm, the other hand still firmly clasped around Fennecca’s left wrist. “Be thankful that I’m feeling generous-”

There were a few moments of shocked silence, before the nervous quiet was abruptly and violently replaced by a loud snapping sound, followed by Fennecca’s pained screams, as Eia snapped the girl’s wrist with one hand, before swinging the girl away from the wall by her arm, sending her slamming to the ground several feet away. “Now run, before I do the same to your mother.”   
Brinia cursed under her breath for letting something like this happen to her daughter, but there was no mistake, this was a serious act of mercy on behalf of the wendigo. She tried running after Fennecca as the minx woman scrambled to her feet and fled, but she was quickly caught by the flaming leash attached to her collar holding her back as it pulled as tight as it could, forcing the dryad to her knees. 

“I’m afraid she won’t have you there to kiss her bruises better, Alistora.” Eia yanked on the leash, dragging Brinia directly to her. “Quit while you’re behind, and be glad that I decided not to punish you any further.”

Brinia fell limp at the wendigo’s feet. She wanted to strike out at Eia for what she had just witnessed, but she knew very well that the larger creature was absolutely right. “I’m sorry.”

“Is that all you have to say for yourself, Alistora?” Eia wrapped the leash around her arm, the heat of it barely tingling her skin. “I would hope that you haven’t forgotten our agreement, have you?”

“I haven’t!” Brinia bit her lip, looking up at the wendigo, quickly regretting raising her voice. “I swear, I wasn’t trying to run away. But I couldn’t let Zaikana hurt anyone-”

“And you thought what? That you could protect them?” Eia scoffed at her, growling under her breath. It was admirable how the woman only thought to protect those she cared about, even when outnumbered, outmatched, and completely disarmed, but that wasn’t at all what Eia wanted from her. She wanted the dryad’s submission. “Some guardian of the forest you have been. Take a look at where you’ve failed already.” 

Brinia choked back her anger, trying to remain calm. “It’s supposed to be  **my** job to protect them…”

“Then you’re bad at your job…” Eia smirked, leaning down and cupping the dryad’s face in her hand, rubbing Brinia’s cheek with her thumb. “But don’t worry, that’s not your job any longer~”

“All of the most powerful enemies of the forest that you couldn’t kill. I have not only caught, but tamed.” Eia stood, gesturing directly towards the kneeling fire genie, before turning her direction directly back towards Brinia, yanking her to her feet by the ifrit’s flaming chain. “And I plan on doing the same to you~”

“I couldn’t live if I let them get hurt-” Brinia stumbled towards Eia, looking her in the eyes as she reluctantly mouthed the  _ appropriate _ words. “...Ma’am.”

“I gave you my word that  **_I_ ** wouldn’t lay a finger on your precious  _ people _ …” Eia tightened her grip on the leash with her left hand, gently pressing her right hand on Brinia’s face, tapping her index finger on the dryad’s sensitive ear, watching with delight as she winced, but took it without flinching. “But if you want me to  **protect** them, I’m going to need a lot more from you than just agreeing to become my bride.”

Brinia nodded her head, desperate to do anything she could do to protect the villagers. To protect her daughter. “Tell me what it is you need from me.”

Eia smiled eagerly, pulling her hand away from the dryad’s face. “I’m going to need complete and total submission from you, in all things, big or small.”

Brinia’s stomach churned in her chest, it was the last thing she wanted, but it was her only choice. “I think I can agree to that…”

“You can start by obediently returning home of your own accord, without a leash to guide you.” Eia held her left hand up to her mouth, blowing into it and causing the entirety of the flaming leash to disappear. “We will talk details when we get back.”

_ You can do this Alistora, for them. _

“As for the rest of you, know that all three of you will be getting punished for sneaking out like this, on your own time.” Eia snarled behind her before returning to face the dryad before her. “Some of you sooner than others.”

There was no arguing from any of Brinia’s sisters.

“It’s almost commendable to see that you’re willing to compromise for the safety of my villagers, wendigo.” 

Fennecca’s flare finally seemed to have paid off, as Eia quickly turned her attention to the presence of a new voice, looking up at the roof of what used to be the dryad’s house. “Perhaps it would be possible for you and I to come to some sort of agreement as well.”

The voice belonged to another woman, a gargoyle standing on the roof of the cabin, looking down at the small crowd below, and Brinia could not be happier to see her in her life, even if Eia wasn’t at all very pleased.   
“I have a name.” The wendigo snarled at the woman above, irked by her lack of respect for the larger creature.

“As do I.” In response to Eia’s annoyance, the new woman actually bowed. “Lady protector Zawdra Nightingale, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, however unfortunate the circumstances surrounding our meeting may be.”

“Zawdra.” Freed from the wendigo’s flaming chain, Brinia turned to face the gargoyle, taking a few nervous steps towards her. “I’m so sorry, I’m doing what I can, I swear.”

“Now now Brinia~” Eia stood directly behind Brinia, curling her index finger in her hair, seemingly satisfied that the gargoyle was showing respect to a creature who was clearly her superior, while Brinia was not. “Address the lady protector with a proper title and the respect she deserves. She sure seems to have earned it, wouldn’t you say?”

“She has…” Brinia swallowed nervously, relenting to the wendigo’s desires as she bowed to the gargoyle, just like the other woman had done to Eia. “I’m sorry Madame Protector.”

“At ease Alistora.” Zawdra smiled at Brinia, before quickly returning to the topic at hand. “And your name, if I may ask?”

“Eia Madaerie.” Eia wiped the smile from her face, looking up at the woman. “I take it you’re the de facto protector of these people then?”

“Indeed, though I will admit that there isn’t much of anything ‘de facto’ about it~” Zawdra’s smile also quickly faded away, she was the mayor of this village after all, and she was just about the strongest creature who had lived inside of it aside from Brinia herself. It was her job to do what she could do in crisis situations like this. “May we have a word, you and I, hopefully we can come up with an agreement of our own to ensure my people’s safety?”

“Certainly.” Eia quickly agreed, before turning around to face the rest of her bride’s gesturing for Brinia to follow. “Though perhaps another time, I promised to discuss such a thing with Alistora first~”

“I shall await your return then…And Alistora…” Satisfied, Zawdra took to the sky with her stone wings, looking down at the newly enslaved dryad. “I’m glad that you’re alive~” And with that, the woman was gone, just as quickly as she’d arrived. 

“What an annoying little bird…” Zaikana scoffed, shaking her head in annoyance as she broke her silence. “She reminds me of Valonda.”

Everyone stared at Zaikana, including and especially Izona, who wanted more than anything to knock the fire genie upside the head. 

“I don’t want to hear another word from a  **slave** until I get home.” Eia growled, curling both of her hands into fists, magically forcing that silence upon her brides whether they were willing or not, including poor Noriza, who hadn’t actually done anything wrong. Eia wanted silence, and she was going to get silence.

↞✶↠

Noriza and Brinia both settled into Eia’s chamber with her once they returned. The dryad’s mere presence amongst her harem had caused a much greater stir amongst her brides than she ever would have expected. Noriza didn’t much seem to mind her though.

“I’m afraid our night together has come to an early end, Noriza. My apologies.”

“Oh it’s no problem, Master.” Noriza smiled, her large tusks giving her the goofiest of grins. “You never told me you claimed Brinia~!! I would have let you spend your night with her instead~”

“Don’t be stupid Noriza, you know I couldn’t do that~” Eia gave her a tender smile, gently petting her head to let her know how much she appreciated the new mother, sending the Yeti out of her chamber shortly thereafter so that she could attend to the more pressing matter at hand. 

_ As for the other one… _

“Been playing fairy godmother, have you?” Eia addressed Brinia without care or tenderness, not even bothering to face the dryad. 

Brinia did the same, curled up against the wall on the wendigo’s bed, her knees drawn to her chest, eyes staring straight down. She had made a terrible mistake.

Eia stood beside her own bedside, looming over the dryad to ensure that she was listening. “Two thousand four hundred and seventy five.”

_ 2475? _ Brinia looked up at her in confusion. “...What’s that?”

“Before attending to Noriza, I made a trip to the village to get a headcount on the kind of population I’m dealing with, and I sniffed out two thousand four hundred and seventy five residents, exactly.” Eia crossed her hands behind her back, shaking her head. “Do you have that many children, slave?”

“Just the one…” 

“And you very nearly lost that one, didn’t you?” 

“I did…” 

“What my other slaves do is none of your business, is it dryad?”

“No…” Brinia swallowed. She knew that Eia choosing not to kill her only daughter was an unmistakable act of mercy, but she still couldn’t stand the thought of her people getting hurt. 

“You had my word that they would be safe and protected. You had my word that they would be in good hands.” Eia slid open a single drawer of her bedside table, retrieving her new magic staff. “Was that not enough for you, Brinia?”

“I don’t care if they’re not my children, they might as well be. I couldn’t just sit back and let them get hurt.” Brinia steeled herself, expecting the wendigo to strike her with her own favored weapon. “I’ll do anything to protect them, please…”

“Then grovel.” Eia grabbed the dryad by the wrist, forcibly lifting her from the bed. 

“I’m sorry… I-” Her whole body was trembling as she lowered herself to her aching knees before the wendigo. There was an ache in her chest, her heart twisting as it barely continued to beat. “...Why didn’t you kill them?”

“I certainly would have been within my rights to do just that.” Eia stripped off her cloak and casted in aside before she sat, her feet hanging over the side of the bed. “But I chose to be merciful, didn’t I?”

“Thank you… I-I...” Brinia choked on her sobs, a stream of tears beginning to flood down her cheeks. There were no words to describe just how grateful she was for the mercy she was being shown, the kind of mercy that Eia,  _ the monster _ , had chosen to show her daughter. There wasn’t any strength left in her to hold back her tears, and she hoped that was enough to speak for itself. “Please…”

“Please what, Alistora? I don’t appreciate having to decipher your pathetic sobs.” Eia leaned over the dryad, delivering the Hollow’s Heart into Brinia’s grasp, giving her something to hold onto. A pillar of stability to prop herself up to for support. 

“Please… protect them…” She clung to the staff, a steady gasp in her breath as she continued to cry. “Please protect them, Master…”

“I’m going to need more than  _ please _ from you. I’m going to need a change in behavior.” 

“And you’ll get one, I swear…”

“I’m not a monster am I, Alistora?”

“No…” Brinia was seeing more and more of that with her. What she thought was nothing more than a gruesome and mindless monster was actually someone who was capable of real compassion, as well as mercy. 

“What am I?”

“You’re my Master…”

“And what are you?”

“A slave…” Brinia swallowed her pride, her crying eyes hidden behind her forearm as she wiped away her tears.

"I think we both understand that what you did today was a blatant act of disobedience.” Eia gently reached forward, running one hand through the dryad’s golden green hair, letting the girl fall into her for support “And what I did was an act of mercy. A mercy that I very well might not show you next time, and that you should not expect from me. If it hadn’t been your daughter I very well might have raped her to death on the spot, and I’m sure it wouldn’t have stopped with her…” 

Brinia’s heart sank just thinking of the possibility, endlessly grateful that the wendigo decided against it, just for her. 

“You will give me absolute submission, Brinia.” Eia lifted the girl’s face up to look at her, wanting to make sure that she was listening. “And you will give no less to your sisters… Do that, and I will protect your villagers.”

“Yes…” Brinia knew exactly what she needed to say, but she still struggled to say it. “Yes, Master…”

“I am  **not** happy with you.” Eia gently caressed Brinia’s cheek. “I’m sure I would have a much better time if I killed you and your villagers and brought your daughter here with me instead. You don’t want that, do you?”

Brinia shook her head, her fingers desperately tightening around the wooden staff, a pathetic sob escaping from her lips. 

“Over the bed.” Eia stood from the edge of the bed, standing over Brinia, her hand extended expectantly, watching the miserable creature painstakingly pry the staff away from her chest and deliver it into the wendigo’s waiting paw. 

Unsure of what she was supposed to do next, Brinia looked up at her in confusion, trying to gauge what she meant. A simple tap on the back should have been enough of an explanation for her, but Eia found herself impatiently slipping her fingers beneath the back of the girl’s collar and forcefully lifting the faerie from the floor, bending her over the foot of the bed. 

There was something quite nice about seeing her vulnerable like this, bent over and helpless to her captor’s desires. This was exactly how a conquered foe should look, this was what happens to Eia’s conquests when they disobey her desires. 

For just a moment, Brinia hesitated, unsure of whether or not she was really going to sit here and take her beating, or if she was going to make a run for it. But there was no running for her.

_ You can do this… for her… _

There was an agonizing jolt of pain quickly spreading through Brinia’s spine as the weight of the quarterstaff beared down on her, striking her across the back. 

Brinia had a level of agility, endurance, and discipline in her fighting style, but her edge in combat came from her magical aptitude. The dryad was not exactly a seasoned veteran, but she had definitely seen her fair share of battles. This however, was no battle. This was a beating. She might have at one point been one of the heavenly warriors, but she would die a slave. 

_ Warriors fight. Slaves are beaten.  _


	7. Stone Deaf

There were legends about these realms.

They said that this world used to be watched over by angels. Unlike the terrible tyrants that ruled over the lands now, they were benevolent spirits who protected the many lesser races, rather than subjugating them. Their power was divine, possessing godlike abilities matched by no mortal creature. It was only because of these angels that the many people of this world could live in peace.

But the angels were no more. 

The only world Brinia knew was a world at war, one that lived in constant fear of the conquerors. The hobgoblins. 

Her people called her one of the heavenly warriors, they believed in those old legends, saying that Brinia Alistora was chosen to watch over and protect them, just like the angels used to. Brinia was sure that at one point she knew the truth, but she had since forgotten. 

Just like trees, dryads lived for decades, but archfey lived for centuries. Chosen by an angel or not, Brinia was special, not all dryads were archfey, just her. She wasn’t born to be able to handle the hundreds of years of memories in her head, and every memory had to go eventually, even the memories of her daughter. She wondered if she had ever had a daughter before Fennecca, and she couldn’t stand the thought of someday forgetting her, but she knew that she would, just like she’d forgotten how she became an archfey in the first place. 

All that mattered was that she had people who were counting on her, people who she needed to protect. 

“Mom…” The minx girl had ears like a fox. Brinia had hoped to sneak out unnoticed, but evidently in her attempts to leave without making a stir, she had accidentally woken Fennecca up from her usual snore-filled slumber. 

Fennecca was still young, but she had grown up unfortunately quickly, she didn’t really have a choice but to grow up quickly, the world she was born into was a terrible place for kids like her. “You’re leaving to fight the snake lady, aren’t you?”

Brinia sighed. “You should be sleeping, honey~”

“I’m not a child anymore, mother.” Fennecca was exasperated, slowly lighting the oil lamp so that she could get a good look at Brinia’s face. “How am I supposed to sleep when you keep sneaking out in the middle of the night on your own...”

“Sweetheart…” Brinia paused, fetching the Hollow’s Heart from the situation room. “I’m not going to be gone for very long, I promise… You’re going to be safe.”

“I’m not worried about me… I’m worried about you…” Fennecca rose from her bed, following her mother into their makeshift war room. “I’m an adult, I can handle myself.”

“Then what’s wrong hon?” Brinia donned her cloak, affixing her staff to her waist. 

“You keep leaving to face monsters alone… Let me come with you.” Fennecca began digging through one of her large wooden chests, searching for armor and a weapon. 

“Sweetheart…” Brinia very gently closed the chest, making sure not to pinch her daughter's fingers in the process. Fennecca had grown up terrifyingly fast, and had grown to be a skilled swordswoman, but she wasn’t quite grown up enough for this. “Not tonight…”

“But mom…” Like a child, Fennecca was still prone to protest.

“Someday.” Brinia smiled, placing her hands on either of the minx’s shoulders, holding her gently. “Someday soon, but not tonight.”

Fennecca snarled. “But she’s a medusa!”

“And that’s exactly why you can’t come with me.” Brinia pulled her daughter into her chest, hugging her gently. “Do you know how **heartbroken** I’d be if you got turned to stone?”

“But what if you get turned to stone?”

“I’m not going to get turned to stone…”

“Maybe not…” Fennecca pulled away. “But someday you’re going to charge into a fight alone… and you’re not going to come back…”

“Someday maybe… But not tonight.” Brinia held her daughter at arm’s reach. “I promise~”

And she kept that promise. 

Thanks to her ability to meld into trees, Brinia was capable of traversing the forest with ease. Within an hour, she had closed in on the medusa’s lair, deep within the fog wastes. 

It was a quick endeavor. With a flash of righteous light, Brinia channelled the power of ungodly sunshine straight into the medusa’s retinas, permanently rendering the villain blind. 

She wasn’t going to kill the woman, even if that was what she deserved. She may have rendered her completely blind, but she knew that the medusa’s ability to turn others into stone was still intact, she was planning on it. The medusa was the only one capable of using her powers to cure the villagers that she had already turned to stone.

“It didn’t need to happen like this, fiend…”

“Bite me…” The medusa was hunched over herself on the ground, her green hands clutching at her crying eyes, unable to see anything ever again.

“All of your slaves and minions are gone, there’s nothing left here for you…” Brinia slowly approached her, ready to drag her back to Thorn by force if she had to.

The twisted coils of snakes that she called hair hissed at the approaching dryad, as the medusa made one last ditch effort to turn Brinia to stone. Unfortunately, her attack was met with a quarterstaff to the head, as Brinia averted her gaze long enough to land a decisive blow on the monster. “Sorry medusa… But I have a daughter waiting for me back home, and I promised her I wasn’t going to let myself become a statue.”

“You’d better hope I never lay my eyesssss on her, Alissstora…” She hissed at the dryad, the snakes on her head bleeding just as hard as she was. 

“The only people you’re going to be laying your eyes on are the people you’ve turned to stone. You’re coming back with me to fix what you’ve done…”

The medusa cackled, not bothering to look up at the dryad. “And why would I do that?”

“Because I’m not giving you a choice.” Brinia reached down, grabbing the medusa by the arm. 

But before she could make any progress towards the village, the medusa, along with every snake attached to her slimy little head, let out a terrible bloodcurdling scream, almost loud enough to shake the whole forest. “You’d better run back to your little sssweetheart before sssomething elssse comesss to eat you… the fog wassstesss are littered with horrible monssstersss… Like me~”

Brinia was perfectly aware of the danger she was in, and she wasn’t fond of it. “You realize you’ll die too, don’t you?!”

“I’d rather be eaten than captured and humiliated!!!!” She hissed again, prompting the dryad to take several steps away from her. “I wonder who it will be… Maybe the ssswamp golem… or perhapsss it’sss the invisssible ssstalker… I’d **love** to ssssee what he doesss to an injured archfey at thissss time of night….”

Brinia calculated her chances of being able to take on the invisible stalker in the dark of night, she may still have her eyes, but that wasn’t going to help her see, so she ran. She left the crying medusa lying there on the floor as prey to a much bigger beast, crossing her fingers and hoping that she would still be alive when she returned for her in the morning.

She never did find the medusa. But she lived, and she could sleep happily knowing that her daughter was no longer in danger of being turned to stone. 

You win some and you lose some, and Brinia had won this one.

↞✶↠

Eia was having a rather difficult time with her new bride. 

It had only been two days since she first laid eyes on Brinia, but the girl had already sewn more strife and dissension among her ranks than just about any of her other brides had ever managed to cause, and she didn’t quite know how to handle it.

She had to keep up appearances. She had to make herself look to be this terrifying bloodthirsty monster, ready to burn everything the dryad loved to the ground in an instant… and to be fair, she was. But she was also quite affectionate. 

“Tishula dear, have you taken her measurements yet?” Eia marvelled over Brinia’s naked beauty, having completely ripped the dryads clothes to shreds in her efforts to discipline the girl.

“I can’t exactly take them when she’sss asssleep, Ma’am…” Tishula hissed back at her. “I can’t sssee… I need her help…”

Eia sighed, reaching down and giving the medusa a gentle pat on her back, she had to take special care not to pet her on her head, or else she’d end up with a hand covered in snake bites.

“Are you sure I can’t wake her up, Massster?” Tishula cooed at her, only wanting to do her job.

“I’d rather not dear, she needs her rest… She’s already been beaten to shit…” Eia licked her lips, admiring the almost blackened bruises on the dryad’s leafy skin. She had set out to punish her, so she was going to punish her, and Brinia took it like a champion. A very miserable champion.  
It was not the invisible stalker who came for the medusa that night, it was the wendigo, and the wendigo was keen on giving Tishula the kind of humiliation that she had hoped to avoid. 

“Who isss she, Massster?” The blind bride couldn’t see the dryad, and without being able to lay her eyes on the familiar face, she was completely unable to recognize her Master’s new thrall. 

“You’ll find out soon enough…” More keeping up appearances. Eia was very well aware of what had happened between the medusa and her newest sister, and she was quickly realizing the extent to which her various brides disliked the dryad. She was actually beginning to feel guilty for claiming the girl as her final bride, but she couldn’t let that show on her face. She needed to keep up appearances, the only way to get her brides to accept Brinia as their new sister was to very clearly show them who was in charge. Eia’s thoughts on the issue were the only ones that mattered, and she wasn’t going to be changing her mind. But still, best to avoid a confrontation between the two girls for the time being, now that Tishula and Demma had finally returned from their two week expedition, it would finally be time to have a family meeting, to properly introduce the new addition to their family. “But for now, less talking. We don’t want to wake her up just yet~”

This was not at all going to be an easy meeting for Eia. No fewer than a third of her brides actively despised Brinia, and their new sister had done very little to get on the good side of the others that she had met.

But she knew she had made the right decision.

There was no way that she was going to let Brinia just get away with assaulting one of her brides, it was completely out of the question. But outright killing the dryad wasn’t the right way to go either. In the days since she made the split second decision to claim the archfey as her trophy, she had concluded that killing the dryad right there on the spot very well could have caused a riot. 

If just a single villager had followed the wendigo back to her den, there would have been a lot of trouble. Eia could easily overpower a single hunter, but if the location of her den had made it back to the people of Thorn, she would have been putting her brides in a lot of danger. 

Just as how Eia couldn’t go without getting payback for what had happened to her beloved doll, there was absolutely no way that the people that Brinia had protected for all of her life could have possibly gone without avenging her, it was out of the question. 

Brinia was beloved by all for a reason, and that was because she really was selfless. She had crossed Eia and her brides on multiple occasions, but it was never out of malice. The guardian always kept the safety of her people in mind, and she did what she did because it was the right thing to do. The wendigo didn’t exactly hold the same morals, but she understood them, and she respected them. 

Najistairean’s could keep hundreds or thousands of slaves under control because they had an army, they **were** an army. Eia was no army, not even she could protect every single one of her brides, and what had happened to Arleena made that all the more clear to her. She wasn’t sure exactly what had prompted the fight between Brinia and the wraith, but she had a pretty thorough understanding of what had happened between Brinia and Tishula, and even from Eia’s perspective, Tishula pretty clearly deserved what she had gotten.

Of course she couldn’t say that to the girl, she had spent over a year simultaneously trying to nurse Tishula into a workable shape, as well as beating her into submission. Tishula wasn’t going to attack the dryad, because Eia wasn’t going to let her, and the medusa was going to do as she was told. 

But safeguarding Brinia from the rest of her brides didn’t feel right either. 

She didn’t want the dryad to die, and she wasn’t going to let her brides kill her, but she was willing, if hesitant, to let her brides hurt her. She knew exactly what she was going to do. 

Each of her girls had a charm affixed to the ring at the front of their collar, and those charms weren’t just for decoration. They were magic. Each one of Eia’s brides had a magical hex placed on them, unique to which slave it was placed on. 

The wendigo adored her beloved Izona, but she wasn’t going to let one of her brides tower over her like Izona normally would, so Izona’s charm forced the pseudo-giant into a more bite sized form, one that Eia could more easily handle, one that lets her tower over the shrunken giantess.

Arleena was a corpse, but she was a beautiful corpse, even though she should be rotting in her skin. It hurt the wendigo greatly to see the wraith’s mangled body, because her magical charm put in so much work to keep her from rotting. The skull and crossbones secured to her throat ironically was what was keeping her from decaying like a proper cadaver would. 

Tishula had to face immense difficulties that the other brides didn’t have to face, on account of being blind. The medusa’s charm doesn’t fix that, but it does heighten many of the girl’s other senses, including her hearing and smell, and all of that compounded in a way that gave her a very unique sense that her sister’s didn’t possess, blindsight. With her blindsight, Tishula could perceive the world around her, it wasn’t a _new_ sense, it was just a new way for her senses to interact. By listening closely and hearing how her hissing sounds bounced off of the objects in her surroundings, she could put together a picture of where things were in relation to her, almost like echolocation. With that mental map drawn out in her head, she could then rely almost entirely on her sense of smell to help her tell the different pieces of her surroundings apart. She still struggled, she couldn’t get very accurate measurements of things, only very broad ideas of the general sizes of things. Eia was endlessly impressed that Tishula was capable of taking up sewing as a hobby, but she was a damn good seamstress in her offtime, and Eia wasn’t going to shy away from asking her to delicately craft some new garments for the dryad. 

Speaking of the dryad, Brinia needed her own unique charm as well. She of course had a few basic enchantments on her already, the hex keeping her from using magic was infinitely useful, but it was in no way unique to her. Zaikana had a very similar hex keeping her from channeling the full power of her flaming magic, but that was on top of her unique charm. Eia didn’t need to worry about Zaikana getting out and burning the village of Thorn down, or even burning down the den, because she knew that Zaikana didn’t have that kind of firepower. If the ifrit overused her flame, she would quickly drain herself and grow weak. Though Eia usually loved breaking her slave’s spirits and watching them grown weaker, Zaikana was expected to use her fiery magic to cook, like a proper little domestic, and if she wasn’t able to fulfill her position, she would find herself in a world of trouble, and she was already in a world of trouble.

Tishula also had an anti-magic hex placed on her, to keep her from activating her still functioning petrification abilities to turn her master or her sisters to stone. Tishula could turn the ability on and off at will, but she was only to use it to protect the den from outsiders, that was her job. 

There was only one voice in the room that was really capable of resonating with her sisters on a purely emotional level, and her master needed to make sure that she was kept under her thumb. It was Eia’s job to discipline her slaves, and Zaikana was about to get a stern reprimand for her behavior. 

↞✶↠

Brinia had spent hours bent over the foot of Eia’s bed, as the wendigo mercilessly lashed at the dryad’s poor backside, and she very nearly fell unconscious right there where she was hunched over, and she would have if Eia had done the merciful thing and temporarily disabled Brinia’s healing magic for the extent of her beating, but she hadn’t, and her body had betrayed her.

It had been a torturous affair, Brinia never needed to wear armor because her skin was like bark whenever she needed it to be, she was a forest fae after all, her physical form was that of a plant.

Her body was built to be able to do battle. Her healing magic helped to keep her from falling during a fight, and her leafy skin almost instinctively hardened into bark to protect her, it was the only reason that slamming into a brick wall didn’t completely shatter her spine. Her body was built and trained to do battle. 

Last night however, was not a battle. Her body was so used to fighting and protecting her, that when it came time to allow herself to be beaten, she was forced to put in a concentrated effort not to shield herself, yet her body still betrayed her. She was trained to do battle, she was trained to resist, she wasn’t trained to bend over one’s bedside and allow herself to be beaten. That just wasn’t what she did.

But that’s what she needed to do. She needed to stop being a heavenly warrior, and let herself become a possession. Less bark, more blossoms. Less thorns, more flowers.

She really was trying to grow flowers. Her hair, once a shiny golden yellow, had slowly been darkening to a vibrant green, a transition that would let her photosynthesize better, so that she could quite literally try to grow flowers in her hair. 

_That’s something she’d like, right? Flowers?_

Brinia hadn’t really had much time to figure things out just yet, her captor hadn’t given her a moment to breathe during her beating, and Brinia knew that it was yet another act of mercy for Eia to allow the beaten and battered bride to sleep on the bed with her, and by the time she awoke, the signs of the previous nights beating had almost completely disappeared, leaving her just about as pretty as she could manage to be with her distressed composure and tangled knots of leafy green hair. 

She hadn’t even thought to try and fix the knots in her hair before she was very abruptly confronted by yet another familiar and unfriendly face, someone with even worse knots in her hair. _No…_

Tishula’s face was a lot closer to Brinia’s as she would have liked. The medusa was sitting on the bed in front of her, presumably having been leaning over her as she slept. The dryad backed up, wincing painfully as her still aching backside pressed against the wooden wall behind her. “C-can I help you?”

“You’re awake~!! I wasss told not to wake you~” Tishula held up her hands, the shredded remains of Brinia’s tunic clutched in her scaly green hands. “Massster dessstroyed what little shredsss of dignity you had lassst night, ssso she inssstructed me to sssew you sssome new clothesss~”

First the ifrit and now this, Brinia really shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was. The medusa’s body had never been found, but she had assumed that the woman had been eaten by the invisible stalker. But clearly, the wendigo got to her first. “Medusa…”

“My name isss Tishula~” She smiled, trying to ease her new sister’s fears. “And yesss… I’m a medusssa, but I promissse that there’sss nothing to worry about… My eyesss can ssstill turn folksss to ssstone, but I’ve been ordered not to ussse them like that on you… Besssidesss, I would never want to hurt one of my sssistersss~” 

“You sure have been tamed…” Brinia swallowed nervously, looking her former foe up and down. It had been over a year, but she still looked like herself, though there have been some obvious changes made, presumably by Eia. The clothes she was wearing were quite pretty, in place of her previous outfit, which was almost completely black, unconcerned with her appearance. But this version of Tishula seemed to put a lot into her appearances, having presumably made these garments herself in an attempt to make herself look pretty for her master. Her thighs seemed to be covered in burn marks, and she had long black stockings that covered just about everything from the knees down. However, it was the clothes that she wasn’t wearing that were the most telling, there was nothing to cover her pride, the area between her legs completely bare and clean shaven. It was quite clearly unbefitting of her previous position in Brinia’s eyes, as a menace who had terrorized the people she loved. Yet here she was, a shadow of her former self, with her slit completely exposed to show just how far she had fallen. “Captured and humiliated…”

“My massster hasss done her bessst to tame her bridesss… she’sss quite good at that, asss you’ll sssoon find out… Forgive me for asssking but… do i know you?” Tishula was sniffing Brinia, trying to familiarize herself with the new girl’s scent. The snakes that substituted for hair seemed to be tied into a small ponytail behind her head, the snakes wrapping around her eyes, covering them completely. _She’s still blind_. “Your voice sssoundsss familiar to me… but your ssscent isss foreign...” 

Brinia froze, swallowing nervously. This was not a position she expected, or wanted, to find herself in right now, especially after a night of suffering torture at the wendigo’s hands- errr, paws. She was not at all ready to reacquaint herself with the vile snake lady. Grasping at metaphorical straws in an attempt to quickly change the topic from introductions, Brinia spat out the first thought that came to her mind. “You turned a lot of people in the village to stone.”

“Ssso you’re from Thorn then?” Tishula tilted her head, still struggling to place the woman’s voice and scent. “I don’t recognize your fruity ssscent… but I’m sure I’ve heard your voice, have we met before?”

“We have, but… I’m sorry, I don’t really want to talk to you right now…” It wasn’t technically a lie, even if it was mean, but Brinia wasn’t about to give away her identity.

“Oh… I’m sssorry.” Tishula looked hurt, her hands sort of quickly retreating to the bed below, grasping at the sheets. “Maybe we can take measurementsss sssome other time then...”

There weren’t really any other words exchanged between the two girls. Tishula rose from the bed, looking like she wanted to make her way out of the room, but in her flustered attempt to escape she forgot that the door out of the master’s chamber wouldn’t open for her, resulting in the blind girl running face first directly into the wooden wall, before promptly collapsing to the floor in a dazed confusion. Tishula didn’t really know where to go from there, so she just kind of stayed put. 

It was surprising to see the girl so seemingly inept. She used to be conniving and evil, and at one point had even owned a handful of her own slaves, but now it was hard for Brinia to see her as much more than a bimbo. _Was she always such a ditz?_

↞✶↠

Eia didn’t even have time to register her reptilian bride slithering past her out of the door as she opened it, not until she was long gone, she would have to teach Tishula a lesson later. But she did see Brinia curled up against the wall on the bed. 

_Already scared another one away, huh?_

Eia silently stepped into the room, not bothering to make eye contact with the sulking dryad, who very clearly didn’t want to make conversation either. The wendigo wordlessly went about dressing herself, retrieving a cloak to wrap herself in and donning some form of hide armor. 

But Eia’s silence bothered Brinia. She kept waiting for Eia to say something to her, to give her something to do, but it never came. She just kept to herself, silently brushing her long black wavy hair before she began setting out to polish her many precious rings. Brinia wasn’t sure of what to do. “...Good morning Ma’am?”

“Good morning slave.” Emotionless. Eia didn’t even look at the dryad, continuing to look at the wall mirror in front of her as she donned her armors. 

Brinia swallowed nervously, slowly prying herself from the wall. “...Is there something I should be doing?”

“Waiting for Tishula to return with some new clothes, if you’d like.” Eia still refused to look at the girl, despite knowing how irresistible the dryad’s naked body looked. The wendigo was perfectly aware that the medusa didn’t actually get the measurements she needed, and was going to hammer home everything that Brinia was doing wrong. 

Brinia hung her legs over the side of the bed, not wanting to look up at the wendigo either. “I don’t think she’s coming back…”

“Then you’ll go naked.” Eia rolled her eyes in the mirror, shaking her head enough for the woman behind her to see. “Bring me my staff.” 

**_Her_ ** _staff, right._ Brinia hated the thought of it, but it was something to do, an order to follow, and she knew what to do when Eia instructed her to do something. Sliding open the drawers of one of Eia’s wooden chests, Brinia grabbed the Hollow’s Heart and delivered it to her master, watching Eia hold it with one hand where Brinia needed two. Eia actually attached the staff to her hip, holstering it into one of the notches allowed by her hide armor, before silently turning towards the door, starting back out into the rest of the den.

“Am I coming with you?” Brinia almost scoffed, full of frustration watching the wendigo ignore her. 

Eia stopped, turning to face the dryad for the first time, tapping the bottom of the staff against the ground as she retrieved her mask from the dresser next to the door. “Why would I bring you with me?”

“Because I’m your slave-” Brinia bit her lip, not sure how to answer her question. “-Ma’am?”

“You are my slave. But I have nine other slaves, and some of them have made less trouble in their many years here than you have in just the last two days.” Eia gently placed the mask against her face, hiding herself from Brinia once again. “If you’re not going to be useful to me, then I have no reason to waste my time on you.”

“Then let me make myself useful to you!” Brinia stepped towards her, visibly flustered and unsure of what to do with herself.

Eia scoffed “I’ve had quite enough of you, actually.”

“No! Please-” Brinia stepped into the door as Eia walked out of it, not wanting to let herself be trapped inside once again. “I’m going to behave today, I promise.”

“Are you?” Eia turned to look back down at her, and Brinia could feel her glare even through the mask. “Because from what I just witnessed, you couldn’t even manage to play nice with Tishula for an hour.”

“I thought that telling her who I was would just upset her.” Brinia was practically pleading with Eia, wanting desperately to be given a chance to get on her good side. “I can find somewhere to be useful, I promise. You won’t even have to see me.”

Eia rolled her eyes. “I already have a place for you, when you’re eventually ready for it.”

“I’m ready for it now.” Brinia looked up at the wendigo, tilting her head down and quickly amending her statement. “Ma’am.”

“So you are…” Eia indicated towards the interior of the grand chamber, gesturing for Brinia to enter, which she promptly did. “I will gather the rest of the slaves.”

  
Brinia watched nervously as Eia headed back into her chamber, briefly leaving her alone in the grand chamber. But a few moments later, Brinia thought she heard a strange whistling in her ears, a quiet pitch that she couldn’t be sure was actually real. This must be the signal Eia uses to summon her brides. _But that means…_

Strangely, Cerilla was the first to arrive, which should have seemed unlikely given the fact that the mother’s chamber was located outside. Cerilla gave the dryad a very emotionless nod, before standing at a very specific spot on the floor of the grand chamber. 

The room was actually pretty well furnished, even if those furnishings were all along the perimeter of the chamber. It was weird to see Cerilla forgoing any of the furniture in favor of standing up, but Brinia quickly realized why when she saw ten different colored glyphs beginning to appear on the floor of the grand chamber, and Cerilla was already standing on one of them, knowing exactly where it was without needing to actually see her own red glyph.

_No need to be a showoff._

Then out from the shadows slithered Tishula, entering into the grand chamber and attempting not to make eye contact with Brinia, even if she couldn’t see. The glyphs were arranged in a semi-circle, and Tishula settled into the purple glyph on the clockwise edge of the colorful arc, curling up into a ball on the ground. 

This was why the center of the grand chamber was so open. Ten glyphs, ten brides, one for each of the wendigo’s mates. They were big enough for each of them to seat themselves in without so much as a toe leaving the circle, and judging by the colors, each girl had a designated position. Not that Brinia could figure those positions out, the ordering of each of the colored glyphs seemed arbitrary to her; she would have placed them in chromatic order. The glyphs may have formed a half circle, but they most certainly weren’t an organized rainbow.

_Copper. Blue. Yellow. Red. Pink. Orange. Green. Cyan. Gray. Purple. Not exactly intuitive..._

Next was Izona, who upon seeing the naked dryad standing around nervously, quickly made her way over to the poor girl. “Over here sweetie, yours is the green one.” Izona helped lead Brinia to the glowing green glyph over on the right side of the arc. Seeing the bruises on the dryad’s back, the pseudo-giant very clearly wanted to help the dryad to the ground, but Brinia’s pride wasn’t about to let her accept any help from the other woman. “Don’t be too nervous, everyone has to have their first family meeting eventually… And hey, I’m sorry about last night.”

Izona’s apology was too little too late for the dryad, who had wanted to like the handmaiden. But a series of unfortunate coincidences in combination with some pretty blatant peer pressure from a couple of Izona’s sisters was enough to put the two women on each other’s bad sides pretty quickly, and it had sort of soured Brinia’s first impressions of the girl, and Izona seemed to realize that.

Brinia nodded her head but said nothing more as she watched Izona settle onto the floor over the blue glyph, just a couple spots from Cerilla. Brinia wondered why exactly Izona had taken the fall for Cerilla’s decision. In the moment, she had lied to Eia’s face, making it seem like she was the one responsible for letting Zaikana outside, when in reality she had only gone along with Cerilla and Zaikana’s plan. Was Eia not going to find out?

The pair of girls who came in next were actually a pair of girls who Brinia had seen before, but never together. _Village girls._ There were four legs between the two of them, but neither were bipedal, it was actually kind of cute. _A mermaid riding a sphinx._

Marima was always the town’s heartthrob, mermaids just seemed to be that popular, but Brinia couldn’t actually remember the sphinx’s name, though she was sure that she had met her before, it was hard to forget a majestic creature like that, she wasn’t actually sure that she’d known the girls name to begin with.

The left side of the arc seemed to be filling in pretty quickly, as the sphinx gently settled into the glyph on the end, next to Izona, but the mermaid didn’t seem to want to separate herself from the other girl just yet, it almost appeared like she was hiding from Brinia from the way she hid behind the much larger girls head of gorgeously straight black hair. 

From the recovery chamber came another pair of girls, the injured Arleena being helped into the grand chamber by Zaikana, who helped get the still pained wraith girl into the gray glyph onto the floor next to Tishula… Before standing on the orange glyph directly to the right of Brinia. 

She looked away from the fire genie, turning her head to the left. The last night had made it clear that the ifrit had nothing good to say about her new sister, and that most assuredly wasn’t going to change. There was nothing at all that was going to convince Zaikana to accept Brinia as one of her sisters. 

The sight to her left wasn’t any more comforting however. Arleena was looking a lot better now that Brinia had gotten to issue first aid to the wraith, but she still felt like a monster for violating the girl in the way she did. The way Tishula was fussing over the other girl also didn’t help, the medusa was already on edge from being shunned by her new sister, and now she was learning that another of her sisters had been badly injured. 

_Hell… She’s not going to be happy when she finds out what happened..._

To the left of Brinia was a bright cyan glyph, between the dryad and Arleena, where Noriza eventually came and stood, as indicated by the fact that Noriza’s ring was situated between Brinia’s and Arleena’s. It suddenly occurred to Brinia that the positions of the girls in the arc corresponded to the positions of their rings on Eia’s fingers. Brinia remembered seeing that Noriza’s snowflake ring was just a finger away from her own, and on the other side was Arleena’s ring. Eia was ordering the girls according to their rings. _And speaking of Eia~_

She needed no glyph to tell her where to sit. The master was the only woman in the room allowed to sit on any form of furniture, and she took advantage of that, sitting on a ledge high above her slaves, relaxing into what was basically a throne, her legs crossed and her face unveiled, smiling eagerly at the women sitting on the floor below her. 

Upon seeing her master looking over her, the little mermaid painstakingly tore herself away from the large cat woman, and seemingly swimming through the air of the chamber to land herself on the bright pink glyph on the other side of Zaikana, sitting between her and Cerilla.

“Spoiled brat~” Zaikana smugly shook her head. “Couldn’t you have just walked?” 

“Why would I grow legs just to walk ten feet, when I can swim through the air~” The mermaid just stuck her tongue out at the other girl. 

There were ten women in the chamber. But taking Eia into account, there should have been eleven. There was a pretty glaring absence amongst the ranks of Eia’s brides, an empty yellow glyph situated right between Izona’s blue glyph and Cerilla’s red glyph. 

_Blue for Izona. Red for Cerilla. Yellow for Valonda?_

Brinia recalled from the giantess’ explanation of the door glyphs that the yellow ones were controlled by someone named Valonda. _The head of family?_

“Where to begin~” The delighted look on Eia’s face seeing just about every one of her brides in the same room contrasted against her stern emotionless expression when faced with Brinia just a few minutes prior. “I would like to see all of my blushing brides together for the first time, so I suppose I should start by inquiring why exactly that hasn’t happened yet. Where’s Valonda?”

“Where do you _think_ ?” Zaikana grumbled, and Brinia couldn’t help but to look up at the fire genie still standing up directly to her right. Zaikana looked different, the vest of leather armor and metal grieves she’d been wearing the previous night having been replaced by a very striking pinafore dress. Her punk rock style of flaming hair now seemingly have been morphed into more of a one sided braid, despite being made of plasma. Brinia could see why exactly the genie wouldn’t want to wear her almost royal armor around the clock, from this angle the woman had a very clear pregnancy bump hidden behind her apron, and she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. _She really shouldn’t be working…_

“If I had to guess, exactly where _you_ should be~” Eia grinned, licking her lips as she stared down at the now blushing fire genie, cutting through the girl’s tough exterior with just a look. “Though I suppose it’s fortunate that you’ve been so… hesitant to go into waiting, it just means that I can take a good look at all of my brides for the first time without having to drag any of them out of the waiting chamber.” Eia stopped, tapping her finger into the arm of her throne impatiently. “At least, if one of my brides wasn’t **missing…** ”

“Valonda `as `er `ands full with the new pups, Ma’am~” Noriza, the girl on the other side of Brinia spoke up, smiling almost proudly that the pups in question were her own. “She’s says she’ll join us in a bit~” 

“She had better, but in the meantime...” Eia sighed, sitting up in her seat as she gestured out among her many slaves. “Kneel.” 

One by one, the women who weren’t already kneeling in place like Izona and Tishula, began to slowly drop to their knees as instructed, or in the sphinx woman’s case, rising into a sitting cat position. Eia was quite clearly ordering all of her brides to kneel before her, but her gaze never left the spot between her new slave and the flame genie beside her. 

The two women were the last to kneel, almost competitively, like they were testing each other’s resolve. Zaikana bowed first, letting the dryad win out just this once. _Seems like my new slave really does need some more breaking in~_

It was a really strange position for Brinia to find herself in, even if almost every other girl in the room was sitting in almost the exact same way, save for the pair of lovers with the mismatched number of legs. The mermaid, Brinia had just noticed, had her long aquatic tail fin tucked beneath her as if she was kneeling, but she was actually doing so while ever so slightly floating above the ground, bobbing gently in midair just an inch or so from the floor. The mermaid, who Brinia recognized from her time living in Thorn, was named Marima, and Marima couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of the sphinx woman whose name escaped the dryad. 

“First things first-” Eia began eagerly, beginning her ‘family meeting’ without waiting for her final bride to arrive. “As you’ve all already noticed, yes, you have a new sister… and since all of you theoretically know how to count how many fingers you have, this means that my little harem is complete~”

Brinia skin stung harder knowing that everyone in the room was now staring directly at her that it had ever stung during or after her beating. She didn’t want to be the center of attention, she didn’t **want** to be here. Yet here she was, another one of Eia’s slaves, being given some well deserved spotlight.

“A point of business before we get to introductions however, since not quite everyone is here to introduce themselves quite yet.” Eia continued, the only person in the room whose attention wasn’t solely focused on the dryad. “ **Yes.** I am aware of what happened to poor Arleena, I am aware that the dryad was the culprit, and I am aware of many of your feelings towards the dryad.” 

Everyone in the room continued to glare at Brinia, except Tishula, who really looked as if she wanted to break position to give the poor girl next to her a hug, feeling horrible for the wraith. Tishula, unlike the rest of her sisters in the room, did not yet realize that her new sister was in fact the dryad in question. 

“I am aware of the tension in the air about the addition of your newest sister, and I have come to a decision on how to deal with it. But let me be clear that what happened last night was unacceptable… regardless of how you feel about your new sister.” Eia relaxed back into her seat, glaring directly at the fire genie next to Brinia. “Once this meeting concludes, Valonda will help Zaikana into the waiting chamber.”

Zaikana didn’t seem happy about the decision, but she wasn’t about to fight it. Eia had clearly already spoken with the ifrit, hence Zaikana’s sudden change in looks. “Yes Mistress.”

“As for Arleena, she will be taking Zaikana’s place preparing meals, and Izona will temporarily take Arleena’s place as gatherer.” Eia shook her head, growing more annoyed that her missing bride hadn’t yet arrived, her eyes darting towards the waiting chamber just in time to see the door open. “Get in line little one, I don’t like being kept waiting.”

  
_Little one?_ Brinia turned to look at the door into the waiting chamber, but by the time she turned there was no one there. She did however hear the sound of wings flapping above her, drawing her attention back to the semi circle of magical glyph, by the time she had time to process it, Valonda was already kneeling in place, directly between Izona and Cerilla, wordlessly looking down at the ground. The words ‘little one’ seemed accurate, the girl was small, even smaller than the shrunken Izona, and the pint sized corpse that was Arleena. 

_A harpy?_ Brinia couldn’t actually tell what it was that she was looking at, the woman looked almost like an angel, with her large yellow feathery wings, were it not for the fact that angels almost certainly weren’t real. Harpies however, were real, even if Brinia had never seen one before. They were, for lack of a better term, extinct in the wild. All harpies left in existence were property of Najistaire, having been captured and enslaved by the hobgoblin empire almost a century ago. There hadn’t been a population of free harpies in decades, long before this one should have been born. Arleena should be out and about somewhere providing for an elven family, but Valonda realistically should be the property of a hobgoblin master in the interior of Najistaire, and by the looks of it, at one point she was.

“Couldn’t **you** have just walked?” Zaikana spat at her, a lot less friendly than she had when saying it to the mermaid right next to her.

She also didn’t look up at the dryad, nor the ifrit blatantly glaring down upon her.

“Valonda, love… Arleena isn’t going to be in waiting anytime soon, is she?” Eia looked down at the harpy, already well aware of what the answer to her question was, but wanting to hear the head of family say it to the rest of her brides. 

“Arleena’s kit is a miscarriage, Master.” The harpy finally spoke, still not looking up from the floor. She was obviously quite distraught about the answer, even more so than her master. After all, Valonda had never once failed in her duty to deliver one of Eia’s kits. “Her pregnancy didn’t survive the accident.”

_Arleena was pregnant._

Brinia’s heart sank, knowing that she was the soul reason for causing the wraith’s miscarriage. She didn’t know. The atmosphere tensed, everyone was still staring at her, and it quickly became hard to breath. 

“This kind of thing **happens.** This is normal for wendigo kits, we’re just lucky that it has never happened before.” Eia cut in before anyone could stand up to physically attack their new sister. “I’m sure you all have words to say, but I expect everyone to introduce themself to their new sister before things get too out of hand… then **maybe** I will entertain some opinions on the dryad.” Eia gestured towards the girl on her far left, before rubbing the stress from her face with her other hand.

“It’s nice to meet you hon, my name is Demma.” On queue, the sphinx girl spoke up, looking over at Brinia, seemingly a lot less upset at the girl than many of her sisters were. “And since I know you’re wondering, yes, we have met before.” Her introduction was brief, seemingly because she also didn’t want to spend a moment more than what was necessary looking away from the precious mermaid who had rode in on her back.

“I’m Izona Killtree. We’ve met and introduced already, and I know we’re not supposed to be getting into our feelings just yet, but I just wanted you to know that I’m not mad about what happened… I promise that we’re going to take good care of you~” As prompted, the spotlight moved on, Izona said all that she wanted and needed to say and then moved on. 

“I’m Valonda.” The next introduction was considerably less wordy. Valonda didn’t even so much as look up from the floor, let alone say anything more than her first name.

“Right…” There was a really awkward pause as everyone in the room expected their winged sister to say more, but she didn’t. The hobgoblin woman next to her coughed, forcibly having to take initiative to move the conversation along. “I’m your den mother, Cerilla works just fine. I can no longer strongly identify with my family name, unfortunately, this is my family now.” It was a militaristic introduction, Cerilla quickly passed the spotlight onto the next girl in line, even if it took her a moment to realize that it was her turn.

“Oh, sorry!! I- I’m Marima Lionheart. It’s… nice to see you again?” Marima averted her eyes from everyone as she talked, though it wasn’t like she even really wanted to look anyone in the eyes at the current moment, she had been completely distracted returning the looks that Demma had been giving her ever since the two of them got into the chamber again. “Sorry that we had to meet like this…”

Brinia swallowed nervously once the siren had finished, watching Marima quickly return to ogling at the sphinx across the room. _Zaikana’s turn._

“Queen Kulgrantz Zaikana…” Zaikana didn’t make eye contact either, but this was clearly because she didn’t have anything positive to say to the girl. “Former queen… Sorry Mistress…” Zaikana was looking up at Eia, who very clearly didn’t like seeing Zaikana introduce herself as anything more than the wendigo’s slave. “Sorry that we won’t get to see each other for a while after this meeting… go ahead, the floor is yours~”

Brinia completely froze, like a deer in the headlights. _Right… My turn…_

“I… Hello-” What was she supposed to say, everyone already knew who she was and what she had done, she’d been made infamous among this circle of girls thanks to her position, or former position, as the guardian of the forest. She defaulted, looking directly up at the wendigo looming above her for guidance, trying to figure out what exactly it was that she was supposed to say. Eia did her best not to let her gain any insight, clearly waiting for her to get on with introducing herself to the rest of her sisters. 

“I’m Brinia… Brinia Alistora... ” She swallowed, barely able to breathe. “You already know who I am…” Brinia tried to find something else to say, but she let it go. She just wanted to get out of the spotlight as soon as she possibly could.

“Cheer up, Brinia, it’s okay~” The dryad’s presence didn’t seem to bother Noriza, who very quickly took the hint and did her best to get everyone’s eyes off of the girl. “You probably remember me, but I’m Noriza. Noriza Strongarm~!”

Brinia was pretty sure she recognized the surname, but her head was spinning too fast to be able to remember, and the room pretty quickly went quiet as soon as it was the wraith’s turn to speak. “I’m Arleena… And I… Don’t really have anything else to say, sorry…” Arleena had already come to terms with her master’s decision and moved on, but Tishula hadn’t. 

Tishula looked like she’d just gotten hit by a fucking train.

She was not at all prepared to find out that her new sister was the very same person who recently mutilated Arleena, as well as the person who had permanently rendered her blind. “I’m… I’m Tishula… I- I don’t want to be her sssissster!” She was choking back furious sobs as she spoke, her sharp teeth grinding together much like Brinia often did. “Massster I… How could you?!?!”

Her eyes may have been too damaged to see anything, but she could still cry, and she cried. “After what she did to Arleena?! After what she did to **_me_ ** ?! It’sss **_her_ **fault that I can’t sssee!!” Tishula was not about to let this go. She had spent the last year of her life recovering from what the dryad did to her, and she was not about to accept the archfey as one of her sisters. “Thisss isssn’t happening… Thisss can’t be happening-”

“Silence.” Eia had expected this, this was why she had avoided telling the medusa. She felt bad for Tishula, but it was the girl’s own fault that she’d been blinded. “You know very well that what happened to you was your own fault.”

“Ssso now you’re defending her…” Tishula sounded more heartbroken than angry, unable to understand what the wendigo saw in Brinia. “I-”

“Calm down Tishula…” Izona spoke up, trying to do her best to console the woman’s rage. “Master made her decision, and we all have to live with it…”

“But-” Tishula choked back her tears, wanting more than anything to just slither away back into the shadows. 

“Quiet, slave.” Eia couldn’t stand to see one of her brides in emotional pain like this, and she had spent quite a lot of time and energy into taming and training the medusa. The best way to quiet a breakdown such as this one was to reassert her control over the girl. “You’ll do as I say, and learn to live with it, because what **_I_ **want is all that matters. Now behave yourself.”

Tishula bit her forked tongue, trying desperately not to fight back and say something that would get her lashed like the dryad had been. Eia really had broken her, like she soon would break Brinia. “Massster…”

“Hold your tongue dear, it’s not going to do you any good.” Zaikana was receptive to what Tishula was feeling, but she herself had quickly come to realize the futility of trying to argue with their master when she really wanted something. “So… what are you going to do with her, Mistress?”

“I’m going to do whatever I want with her.” Eia smiled, making sure that Brinia was looking directly into her master’s eyes as she spoke. “But not before I let my girls have a little revenge~”

Brinia’s eyes grew wide in disbelief, the air in her lungs being violently ripped out of her. _What?_

_Guardian of the forest doesn’t sound too bad after all. I guess I could get used to that title~_

This was the compromise that Eia came up with, for her own sake as well as for the sake of the dryad and her new sisters. She wanted nothing more than to viciously break the dryad in herself, but she could wait, she had nine other girls eager to do such a thing for her. “I want Brinia alive at the end of the day, in one piece with her facilities intact, no tearing apart or permanently altering my new slave… But aside from that, have at her~”

“What do you mean ‘have at her’ Master?” The den mother was the most confident in her right to speak, having been prepared to question the wendigo’s decisions coming into the conversation. She hadn’t really expected Eia to let her brides punish their new sister.

“I **mean** \- if you’re going to go on a corporal punishment campaign like the one you enabled last night, Cerilla, you’re going to do it through the appropriate channels.” The wendigo smiled smugly. “You’re going to do it my way~” 

Brinia’s nervously flittering eyes met the stoic unrelenting glare of the wendigo, watching the monstrous woman point directly at her with her right index finger, whispering a few forbidden incantations to herself. 

There was a flash of white light, and an instant later there was an ethereal chain, a brilliant silvery cord affixed to the flower charm that adorned Brinia’s collar, a dazzling magical leash that connected her to her master, the end of the magical string wrapped around Eia’s finger.

...Then the rest of the girl’s charms began to glow, as did the glyphs they found themselves kneeling upon.

It burned. Her lungs contracted in on themselves as she gasped for breath, but the pain was too great. Brinia had already been marked as the wendigo’s possession, but now she was to be marked with the symbols of her sisters. Almost like fire, the dryad’s chest burned as the nine distinct glyphs were carved into her skin, forming a dazzling arc of circular emblems in the fertile forest flesh just beneath Brinia’s collarbone. Eia was going to let each of her brides have a shot at Brinia.

Nine symbols arranged themselves in chromatic order along the base of her throat, forming an arc below her collarbone, almost like an inverted rainbow. A demented array of glowing lights marking her as prey for each of her sisters. The wendigo couldn’t help but lick her lips at the sight of it. _Gorgeous~_

“I told you that I had a place for you. You will take Izona’s place as my handmaiden for the time being.” Eia gave the dryad a tender look, she wanted Brinia to succeed, but she couldn’t make it too easy for her. If she wanted Brinia’s submission, the dryad needed to be broken in. Addressing her new bride directly, she continued on. “I will protect your little forest and the people that live in it, but only once I get what I want from you, my little flower... absolute submission… is that understood?”

Choking against the collar, the spotlight once again thrust upon her, Brinia said the only appropriate response she could think of. “Yes, Master…”

“Perfect…” Eia smiled eagerly, her own chest fluttering with excitement. “Any words before I throw you to the dogs, Alistora?”

Brinia swallowed, feeling the nervous lump in her throat press against the metal shackle around her throat as she began to address her new sisters, hoping to get on some of their good sides before she had to endure whatever kind of torture they had planned for her. “Please, do what you want with me… I know all of you probably hate me, and you probably want to rip to shreds where I sit, but… leave my villagers out of this…” 

She took a deep breath, unable to even look up at her sisters. She could hardly believe the words coming out of her own mouth, in less than three days she’d gone from trying to kill the wendigo to voluntarily giving herself up to be raped and tortured by a group of women who wanted nothing more than to hear her scream. 

_You can do this, Alistora. They only get one shot at you, don’t let me down._

There were knots in Eia’s chest. This was a test, not just of Brinia’s willpower, but of Eia’s patience. She wanted the dryad to win, she **needed** the dryad to win. There was no way in hell that she was going to let a prize like this get away from her. The next several days were going to be a living nightmare for Brinia, but once she was on the other side, then Eia could have the dryad for herself. 

“Any chance you’d let me take my shot at her before I’m locked away in the dungeon, Mistress?” Zaikana smirked, glaring at the dryad next to her, a hungry light in her eyes.

“Right, I almost forgot. You’re going to the waiting chamber~” Eia snapped her fingers, looking down at the two girls. “I hope you had fun with Brinia last night, Zaikana… Because as punishment for what you’ve done… you don’t get one~”

Brinia sighed with relief. _Thank the gods… One less to worry about…_

Zaikana scoffed, watching as the orange glyph on Brinia’s skin quickly faded away, leaving a gap between the two symbols immediately surrounding it. “Fine… I’ll go, but first…”

Brinia may have been the last to kneel for her master, but Zaikana was the first to rise, standing up and looming over the still crouching dryad beside her. “Lay another finger on another one of my sisters, and we’re going to have problems… I love my sisters, Alistora… Just as fiercely as you love your daughter, and I will protect them like they were my children. That being said-” Zaikana turned and scanned Eia’s expression before continuing. “And don’t take this the wrong way, I still don’t like you, but… I love **all** of my sisters, and that includes you… So I guess I can learn to love you too.” Looking over at Eia once again, the fire genie gave her master a small bow. The wendigo smiled, clearly quite pleased at Zaikana’s performance, delighting in how flustered it seemed to make her ifrit bride. “Alright Valonda… I’m ready to go~”

The small harpy woman looked up at her master for approval before going ahead and doing as Zaikana wanted, this time walking across the chamber instead of flying. It was almost cute watching her take the flame genie by the hand and lead her to the waiting chamber. “See you in a moon, Brinia… try not to get killed~”

There was a small pause as the door to the waiting chamber opened and closed, sealing the pair of girls off behind it. 

Brinia was simultaneously shocked and relieved that Zaikana seemed to soften up on her, hopefully hearing the flame elemental endorse her new sister would help sway some of the other girl’s opinions on her. _Thank you, Zaikana…_

“Now then…” Eia stood from her seat, twirling her mask in her hand. “I’ll let you all have Brinia for the rest of the day, but don’t mistake this as an excuse for any of you not to do your jobs, I expect you all to fulfill your duties to me as normal, and I will not hesitate to issue my own punishment to those that fail me… That being said, who wants first blood?” 

Izona grumbled, clearly wanting to take a shot at the dryad as soon as possible. The rest of the girls paused, filling the room with silent anticipation as Brinia awaited with dread to find out which one of Eia’s brides was going to get to torture her first. 

“If it’sss not too much to asssk, Massster… I would love to go firssst~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please Note: i had to retcon the number of residents in Thorn to be a larger number


	8. Blind Date/ Love Bites

“Looks like someone’s just had their ass handed to them, huh?”

“Who’sss there?” Tishula hissed, turning her head towards the voice, unable to see the face of her predator. 

“Probably the last person you want to see right now~”

Tishula gritted her pointed teeth in anger, snarling furiously under her breath. The last person she wanted to see right now was the dryad, but thanks to her the medusa wouldn’t be seeing anyone ever again. But she recognized the voice, and it wasn’t Alistora’s, though she was a close second. “Wendigo…”

“Still upset about those slaves that I ate, I assume~” Having heard the medusa’s unearthly screaming, Eia closed in on the other woman, careful not to get too close for fear of being turned to stone. 

“It meansss nothing to me anymore…” Tishula lowered her head, careful not to let the wendigo see her in her weakened state. “Leave me…” 

Her face hidden behind her mask, Eia continued to approach, the enchanted deer skull offering her just a slight edge of protection. “You were the one that screeched-”

“But not for you!!!” Tishula hissed, and the snakes attached to her followed suit, each of the small little serpent heads turning to face the wendigo as she approached. 

“Then for who?” Eia could tell that something was wrong with the girl, the snakes she called hair had turned to look at her, but the medusa hadn’t. 

“Anyone but…” The snake woman’s best chance for survival would be to turn her head and look over at Eia, to catch the wendigo in the eyes and petrify her. But the medusa kept her gaze fixed below her, her head hung in defeat. 

“Well that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” Eia and the medusa had been rivals, for lack of a better term. Two powerful creatures competing for the same resources and space within the fog wastes, but the serpent woman had certainly seen better days. 

The snake lady remained silent. Eia didn’t even know the medusa’s name, but now she was practically leaning over her, licking her lips behind her mask. There was no way that the other woman hadn’t noticed the wendigo standing directly beside her, even without looking up to face her. Yet there she stayed, completely still with her back leaned against the tree trunk behind her, unwilling to cast her gaze upwards.

That wasn’t the same ferocity that Eia was used to from her, that was the posture of a medusa who was very deliberately keeping her eyes out of sight, hidden away from anyone who might see. That was the look of a medusa who wanted to die. 

“So you’re just going to sit there and let yourself be eaten by a bigger snake, huh?” Eia curiously kicked at the woman’s hips, watching the snakes attached to her hiss loudly, lunging at the wendigo to try and bite her. 

But the tiny serpents couldn’t even get close, the force of them completely unable to move the medusa’s head from its current position. The larger serpent didn’t display the same furious anger that the smaller ones did, still refusing to look up from the muddy ground below, only acknowledging the wendigo’s kick by turning slightly, moving away from Eia. 

Eia scoffed, kicking the medusa again, much more forcefully this time, she had been prepared for a fight, and she was more than mildly annoyed that she wasn’t getting one. “You realize you’re going to die if you don’t fight back?”

“Wow, it’sss almossst like you’re the sssecond perssson to sssay that to me tonight.” Tishula scoffed back, pulling her knees to her chest and hiding her face away from the larger creature that was almost certainly going to kill her. “If you’re going to do sssomething about it, then jussst shut up and be quick about it, I’m trying to make thisss easssy for you…”

“Well that’s no fun for me at all~” Eia tilted her head, looking over the medusa intently, noticing the terrible gashes and bruises on her scaly green skin, and the blood dried onto her injured snakes. 

“Do you want an easssy dinner or not?” 

“You act like you’re at all appetizing, as if eating you wouldn’t give me food poisoning~”

“I’m venomousss, not poisssonousss, there’sss a difference… eating me won’t hurt you.”

“I’m sure you still wouldn’t taste any good, besides… I’m still full from those slaves of yours I ate, my brides caught a few more today~” 

“Good for them, I hope they enjoyed their meal… and while they’re at it, maybe one of them would appreciate sssome sssnake ssstew, I hear I’m a foreign delicacy~”

“I’d rather not, I wouldn’t even feed your rancid flesh to one of my slaves, that would be too cruel~”

“Then leave me here for sssomeone elssse to enjoy, hopefully the invisssible ssstalker hasss better tassstes…”

Eia sighed, removing her skull mask as she slowly kneeled next to the terribly injured snake woman. “Let’s take a good look at you then, shall we?”

Tishula didn’t want to take a good look at anything, even if she could see the wendigo’s face, she didn’t want to, and she most certainly didn’t want the monster looking at hers. She expected violence, she expected fangs or claws or knives to be pressed against her throat, but instead she was met with a gentle touch, as the wendigo tried to slowly tilt her chin up to look at her. 

Eia heard the medusa gasp, jerking her head away from the wendigo’s hands. “If you don’t want to turn me to stone, then close your eyes.”

“I don’t need to clossse my eyesss, wendigo… I can turn it off whenever I want.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Eia slipped her fingers beneath the medusa’s chin again, curious as to why the other woman didn’t want to look at her.

“I jussst don’t want to sssee your ssstupid face…” Tishula hissed at her, this time letting Eia slowly move her head to face her.

“Again, just close your eyes then… it’s your loss, I’m much prettier without my mask~” She had removed her mask after all, not something she often did in the presence of an enemy, and this would likely be the snake lady’s first and possibly only chance to catch a glimpse of the wendigo’s real face. 

“Yeah, right… now I wish I could sssee it jussst to prove you wrong…” Tishula’s eyes were clamped shut as Eia forced the medusa to face directly at her. 

“Then stop being difficult and open your eyes~” She took a close look at the woman. Either her eyes had been watering or she had been crying, and judging on the otherworldly shriek that had summoned her here, Eia could safely assume that it was both.

“That’sss not going to help…” The medusa opened her eyes, revealing a pair of glassy and fogged over lavender eyes, not looking anywhere specific, or locking onto anything at all. 

“You’re blind.” Eia gently rubbed the girl’s chin, admiring her foreign beauty up close for the first time. 

“Assstute obssservation, I promissse you… I’m afraid I won’t be able to obssserve your sssupposssed beauty, unfortunately.”

“...What’s your name?”

“Tchhh, you’ve fought me for yearsss, and now you asssk my name?”

“I try not to learn the name of my enemies before I kill them~”

“Even more reassson for me to ssstay sssilent.”

“I’m afraid you’re not even worthy of being called my enemy anymore… and you’re certainly not worthy of being my next meal. Now answer the question.”

The medusa scoffed, her eyes turning in their sockets in an attempt to avert her gaze from Eia, despite not being able to see anything at all. “My ssslavesss call me Madame Iznittet.”

“Good to know, but I’m not one of your slaves.” Eia put her hand to the medusa’s throat, watching her gasp in terror. “Now drop the titles, and try again.”

“Iznittet Tishula.” Eia felt the medusa swallow nervously, her neck firmly pressed against the wendigo’s palm. “Or jussst Tishula, if you’re going to be disssressspectful…”

“I’m going to be much more than just disrespectful, _Tish_ .” Eia tightened her grip around the woman’s throat, watching her grasp at the wendigo’s arm with her own hands, the snakes on her head beginning to strike. “I would hope you understand your position enough to know not to **bite** me, Tishula.”

The snakes on Tishula’s head quickly backed off, retreating before they could lay a single fang on the wendigo. “What are you going to do with me…”

Those were the words of a woman who didn’t really want to die. “Well, if you bite me, I’ll have to pull your teeth out, but if you behave, maybe I won’t have to defang you.” 

“Why should I **behave** for you, wendigo…”

“Because you don’t want to die, and we both know that.”

Tishula bit her lip, her face morphing into a distressed scowl. “And what elssse are you going to do with me… if I behave…”

Eia smirked eagerly, her claws slowly protracting from her fingertips, pressing against Tishula’s throat. “I’m not sure quite yet, but whatever I do it’s going to be humiliating and painful~”

She hissed. “You can’t!!”

“I can do whatever I want with you, Tishula, and do you know why?” Eia squeezed, choking the breath out of the medusa’s throat. “Because you and I are no longer equals… and I hope you know what that makes you.” 

“A ssslave…” Tishula’s heart dropped in her chest, her gaze once again trying to look away but failing, as new tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. “What ussse do you have for a blind ssslave?”

Eia smiled, retracting her claws back into her hands. “I’m not sure yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure out something~”

Tishula sniffled back her tears. “...And you’ll let me live?”

“I won’t kill you.” Eia grinned, licking her lips. “But with the kind of humiliation you’ll have to endure, I’d hardly call it living~”

The medusa nodded, giving the wendigo the saddest look without even realizing it. “Very well, wendigo… Whatever you want…”

“Good… but you’ll have to stop calling me that.”

“What’s your name, then?”

“Eia Madaerie… But I expect you to call me Master~”

“Yesss, Massster…”

↞✶↠

“Sssit ssstill.” 

Tishula. It just had to be Tishula.

Brinia hadn’t even known the medusa’s name until just today, not much was really known about the snake lady before her death, except that it turns out she didn’t die at all. Neither of them were really happy about that.

Eia had promptly granted Tishula’s request, and now three of her brides found themselves somewhere they normally wouldn’t have access to, the breeding chamber. 

Brinia had no choice, she was the prey, the captive, the victim. She was expected to let every one of her sisters have their shot at punishing her, subjugating her. 

Tishula, naturally, was here as well. The blind woman was the dryad’s first predator, and Brinia wasn’t sure whether or not she should have been thankful for that. On the one hand, she really didn’t know what Tishula had planned for her, and she really was not looking forward to feeling those scaly hands on her skin. She wouldn’t show it, but she was scared. She knew that once she was alone with the other woman, the medusa could very well kill her. On the other hand, maybe that would be for the best, if she died here then none of the other girls would ever get their chance, and if she didn’t die here at least Tishula would be out of the way. It was like yanking off a bandage. 

She did not at all want to be in here alone with the snake lady, and part of her genuinely hoped that Cerilla would stay and watch, just to make sure nothing terrible happened. Brinia didn’t want to end up a statue after all. 

“Bite me and I’ll pull your teeth out.” Cerilla sat behind Brinia, reaching around her and pulling a black cloth up to her face. Tishula couldn’t see, so she needed her den mother to help restrain the dryad for her, and Cerilla was going to make sure that Brinia couldn’t see either. She wrapped the cloth around her eyes and tied it as tight as she could. That blindfold wasn’t going to be coming off without a fight. 

Brinia had some fight in her, and she desperately wanted to bite Cerilla’s fingers off just to spite her. She hated how soft the hobgoblin’s skin was as it lightly grazed her own. 

“There. All set.” It was nothing fancy, the dryad’s bondage was very simple, a blindfold was tightly tied around her eyes, and her hands were tied together at the wrists in front of her. “It won’t be slipping away anytime soon.”

Brinia shuddered, trying to pull her hands apart. The hobgoblin’s knots were simple but secure, and she was glad that they were so strong. Brinia didn’t want to slip away, she was going to stay. 

All that mattered was what Eia wanted, that was the only way that her people could be saved. Eia demanded absolute submission, and she expected Brinia to show no less to her sisters. Brinia was going to sit here and submit, because submitting to Eia meant submitting to Tishula. 

“What do I need to do, Ma’am?” Brinia tilted her head towards Cerilla as she spoke, hearing the hobgoblin opening the door out of the chamber. 

“You’re asking the wrong sister.” Cerilla just snickered, then slammed the door shut behind her. 

Brinia sighed, steeling herself for what was to come, turning back to the rest of the room to face Tishula. 

“Okay, I’m ready… What do I need to-” There was a hiss from behind her. She flinched, suddenly feeling a stinging pain at the back of her neck as she felt the medusa bite. “Ackk!! T-Tishula?!” 

“Shushhhh, my dearessst~” Brinia could feel the anger in Tishula’s voice as she hissed, feeling her pull her teeth from her flesh, whispering sarcastic sweet talk into her pointed ears. “Do asss I sssay, and sssit ssstill… I’m hungry~”

Brinia scoffed, twisting her neck away from the other girl. “I’m not your lunch, snake!!”

“That’sss Missssss to you, Alissstora~” Tishula turned with her, flicking her black forked tongue into Brinia’s ear. “If I wanted to eat you, I’d ssswallow you whole~” 

Brinia could feel her pointed nails and the sensation of her scaly green fingertips on her skin as she felt Tishula slowly circle her finger around the nipple of Brinia’s left breast. Tishula was close, trailing her other up the length of Brinia’s right arm up to her shoulder, all the way to the glyphs burned into the dryad’s collarbone. 

The glyphs stung as they were touched, and Tishula made sure to run her finger over all of them as she began to locate her own glyph by touch alone. Both girls knew exactly the moment Tishula’s right index finger reached her own purple glyph, it sent a pleasant tingling sensation not only into Brinia’s skin, but also into her predator’s fingertips. 

Tishula hissed with delight, happily whispering into the dryad’s ear. “What’sss the command word?”

“The command word?”

“For the glyphsss… Only you would know~”

Brinia grimaced, biting her lip harder than Tishula had bit her neck. She could hear the words in her head, she knew exactly what the command words were, and she was hesitant to say them, if only because of how humiliating they were. The command phrase was clearly meant for her to say, and it was long too. She could only assume it was personalized for each one of her sisters, judging how she could only hear the words while Tishula continued to touch her. She swallowed her pride and took a deep breath, saying the phrase out loud. 

“Sink your teeth into me, snake lady… Let me scream for you~”

Even through the blindfold, she could see the purple glyph at her collarbone glow, illuminating the whole room as it sent waves of stinging pleasure through her body, engulfing her in terrible magic. 

She had no idea how it had affected Tishula, but she quickly began to feel the effects on herself. The normal tingling sensation of her natural magic faded away, there would be no magic coming from her. This was a punishment after all, her body couldn’t be allowed to heal during the beating. 

What replaced the tingling of her healing magic was a very slight heat in her skin. Every touch of Tishula’s scaly fingertips against her skin sent tingles of pleasure through her, her battle hardened skin growing sensitive.

There was a fuzzy feeling in her head as well, as her whole mind fogged over, pushing thought of pain and pleasure to the forefront of her brain. She couldn’t think straight, and she was in heat. They were both in heat~

“I’ve been trying to familiarize myssself with your ssscent, but all I could sssmell is sssome sssort of sugary sssensssation coming from between your legsss… that’sss you issn’t it?” Tishula flicked her tongue as she spoke, gradually sliding one hand between Brinia’s thighs. “I can sssmell the excitement in you~”

“No!” Brinia squeezed her thighs closed, forcing the medusa’s hand out as she tried to struggle away from her. 

Neither girl could see, but Tishula was used to that. Like a constrictor, Tishula wrapped herself around the other girl, keeping herself behind her. 

She tangled her legs around Brinia’s from behind, forcing them apart. “Sssubmit to me, you little sssex ssslave~” Tishula’s arms slid beneath the dryad’s shoulders before looping around them, pulling her prey into her chest. Brinia could only struggle against her position as she was locked in by Tishula’s scaly arms, feeling waves of pleasure as skin rubbed against skin.  
 _Hissssss~!!!_ Tishula hissed angrily at her, and then bit. The snake woman sank her teeth into the flesh of Brinia’s collarbone, listening to her squeal in pain and the sensation. 

Her fangs dug deeper this time, sending enormous waves of pain through her body, followed by equally strong waves of pleasure. 

She wasn’t sure if it was mercy or torture, but whatever Eia had done to her, it forced Brinia to enjoy, and gods was she enjoying it already. 

She could feel the difference just from the first bite that her reptilian sister delivered to her, what once was pain was still pain, terrible pain, but it was accompanied with equal parts pleasure. Even she could smell her sugary sweet slit dripping with excitement. “Ahhh!! Ahhh!! Ahhh!!!!” 

“Sssilenccce, ssslave…” Brinia heard a small gasp escape her lips as she silenced herself, and as she did as she was told, she felt a new sensation.

The buzz of white noise in her head made her brain start to tingle, it was like bubbles of excitement were forming inside of her head as she eagerly submitted to Tishula’s desires, encouraging her to continue. It gave her no reason not to continue. 

She went limp in her sister’s coiling grasp. She knew what she had to do, submit, and with the magic coursing through her mind and body, she enjoyed it. Brinia was prone to fighting back, but she was loving the sensation, it made this easy for her. The correct course of action was also what brought her the most physical pleasure, bringing her closer and closer to release. All she had to do was chase that pleasure. 

Tishula loosened her iron grip around Brinia’s shoulders, feeling the dryad release the tension in her body, beginning to lean back. Brinia felt Tishula’s breasts compress slightly as she fell into the girl, and she was glad to have that cushion of support behind her. 

Then she felt her own breasts being compressed, as Tishula’s wonderfully scaly hands squeezed them, sending an unprecedented level of eagerness and heat into Brinia’s fruity little flower. She squeaked happily, finding her bound hands drifting between her legs. 

_Will she notice if I touch myself? Would she stop me, or would she not care?_

Before she was even done asking herself the questions, her fingers were already pumping in and out of her quim, pushing her towards sexual release. 

“Is this why you all love her?” The words slipped out of her mouth. The tingling in her brain leaving her unable to control herself. 

“Thisss, among other thingsss… Isss why we love _each other_ ~” Tishula pinched the dryad’s nipples, watching Brinia arch her back as she squeaked with pleasure. “But don’t get ahead of yourssself… I don’t love you… I jussst want to ssstrangle you, but I’ll sssettle for humiliating you, for now~”

Brinia couldn’t control herself, this pleasure was unnatural to her, it was hypnotic. Quite literally in fact, Brinia had been hypnotized. Forcefully and against her will, Eia’s magic had induced a trance inside of her. The anti magic hex that turned off her healing magic was real, but everything else was in her head. 

Her thoughts were being pushed to the side in favor of a pleasant tingling sensation and the front of her brain, dictating her thoughts, making it impossible to control herself. The newfound sensitivity in her skin was also just an illusion, her brain tricking her into thinking that every touch meant pleasure. Pleasure was good, which meant touching was good, playing was good. Scratching, squeezing, biting, slapping. She could feel the pain, but her brain covered up that pain with pleasure. Her brain controlled everything that was her, and her brain said that pain and humiliation meant pleasure. 

She had been charmed, how was that even possible, she was supposed to be immune to that? Unless Eia turned that off too. _Damn her…_

Eia tried to make this easy for her, but deep down, Brinia’s primal urges told her to fight it. She didn’t want this, not really. She struggled, pulling herself away from Tishula as the snake charmer loosened her grip, stumbling forward and onto the floor in front of her. 

But Tishula was a snake, she had locked onto Brinia’s sweet scent, and she wasn’t letting her prey escape. She flipped her onto her back and spread her legs again, but this time that flickering black tongue of her went straight for Brinia’s cunt, savoring the taste of the dryad’s flower, the perfect mixture of sweet, sour, and bitter.

She ached as Tishula drove her forked tongue inside of her, arching her back eagerly to let the little snake in. Unsurprisingly, the medusa was hungry, and all of a sudden Brinia felt an excruciating array of fangs digging into her thigh, as each and every snake attached to her predator’s head bit down on her at once.

She could feel the venom seeping inside of her, agonizingly painful, agonizingly pleasureful. There would be no more fight coming from her, she wanted it too badly, for Tishula’s split tongue to split her in half. She was gonna submit and she was gonna like it. 

One final pair of fangs bared down on her sensitive skin, as Tishula bit down on Brinia’s little flower as hard as she could without biting her own tongue off, which was still deep inside her victim’s sweet little cunt, basking in the flavor of her meal.

Brinia came right then and there, orgasming in Tishula’s mouth as the medusa bit down between her legs, the feeling of her tongue inside of her sending tingles up her spine and into her brain as the cloud of pleasure in her brain erupted into a violent storm of pure bliss. 

But Tishula wasn’t done with her, she wasn’t even close. 

“I wasss promisssed ssscreaming, and I will get ssscreaming~”

Prying herself from the dryad’s fruity cunt, now sucked dry, Tishula grabbed Brinia’s bound wrists and slammed them into the ground above the woman’s head. 

“I hope that you’re ready to sssubmit now, or elssse thisss next bit will be particularly painful.”

Brinia whimpered and nodded her head, only able to assume that Tishula was above her. She could smell the toxins of the snake woman’s eternally exposed cunt. 

Tishula was a respectable five foot eight inches in height, but she was smaller than Brinia, and it was just enough for her to be able to comfortably lay her body down outstretched on top of the other woman, so she did.

Her scaly thighs slid past Brinia’s head as she set her knees down on the ground beside her ears. Her cunt slithering it’s way into the dryad’s face as she laid down, once again going after the delicious taste of the nature sprite’s sensitive little flower. “Get to work, ssslut, I think you owe me an orgasm after that~”

Brinia lifted herself to Tishula’s cunt, obediently following the medusa’s instructions, pushing through her scaly labia as she got her first taste of the venomously bitter cunt. 

To say that bringing the snake lady to an orgasm was unpleasant would have been an understatement. In contrast to the delightfully sweet taste of Brinia, Tishula’s slit was stomach churning. 

But Tishula didn’t care, she was perfectly happy with snacking on her little fruit salad, regardless of how much Brinia was or wasn’t enjoying herself. 

It wasn’t very easy for Brinia to do, there was little pleasure in eating out the medusa’s quim that she wasn’t already receiving from feeling Tishula do the same for her, but she did as she was told, and her brain rewarded her with a happy buzz of pleasure all the same, just for being obedient. 

“Mmmph~!!!!” Tishula was loud, she didn’t like to hold back her moans, and each of them had a very distinct sound to them, like Tishula was giggling to herself with every moan. Brinia wasn’t going to be able to orgasm again anytime soon, but after just a little bit, Tishula began grinding her cunt into Brinia’s mouth, biting down and moaning loudly into the dryad’s flower as she came. 

Sex with a creature like Tishula was weird. Interspecies relations were common and expected, it’s why most creatures had a very similar array of genitals, despite many of them not needing them. Evolution took its course, and in some weird turn of events, the pleasure organs were here to stay. It was too bad that Tishula’s quim tasted so heinous, but maybe that was part of her plan to punish the woman who took her sight from her. 

“I hoped you enjoyed that…” Tishula giggled to herself, sitting up on top of Brinia and bringing her face in close. 

“What… what’s next, Ma’am?”

There was no emotional joy in the intimacy going on between them, as Brinia had wished there would be. She had been a single mother with no sexual partners for quite some time, and her inexperience showed in her basic inability to control herself. 

Tishula picked herself up off of Brinia and once made her way behind the girl, letting the dryad rest her hands where the medusa was sitting. Brinia felt her head being lifted into Tishula’s lap, the scent of her rancid poison stinging her senses, despite how soft the snake woman’s thighs were. 

“I’m not Massster… I need breaksss…” Brinia felt Tishula yank the blindfold out from her eyes. The dryad waited for her vision to readjust, but it never did, something was wrong. 

She struggled to sit up, everything was blurry all of a sudden. She hadn’t been blinded, but she most certainly couldn’t see straight. 

“What did you do to me?” Brinia bit her lip, staring up at the medusa, whose eyes were now uncovered, the snakes having come out to play. 

Tishula’s bite brought her pain and pleasure, but it was harmless, the snakes on the other hand weren’t so harmless.

The skin on her thighs, once tinted a golden green, had turned black. There were terrifyingly awful bruises dotted along the inside of her legs, right where the snakes had bitten her.

“Before you freak out, it’sss temporary~” Tishula licked her lips staring directly down into the dryad’s eyes. Brinia could tell by the look she was being given that the medusa would have liked to turn her to stone, but her powers truly didn’t work on her sisters. 

Everything was fuzzy now, inside and outside of her own head, she couldn’t make out the medusa’s eyes, and she most certainly couldn’t count the number of snakes she had attached to her head. 

_She wouldn’t disobey her master… she won’t kill me… this won’t kill me… just do as she says and submit to her…_

There was equally little joy in Brinia’s submission to the monster. She really had hoped to accomplish some manner of sisterly bonding with the girl, but that wasn’t going to come from sex. 

“You didn’t need to do that… if you told me to close my eyes, I would do my damn best to listen.”

“Oh look at me, little missss _I’m only being sssubmissssive becaussse it’s what’sss gonna sssave my preciousss little villagersss from becoming dinner_ ~” Tishula hissed loudly at the girl in her lap. “I’m not after your sssubmission, that belongsss to Massster… I want to hurt you, I want you to feel pain, I want you to feel sssorry for what you did to me.”

“I **do** feel bad for what I did to you, Tishula!!” Brinia gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, unable to bear the discomfort of incomplete sight, which made her feel all the more guilty. “I don’t enjoy seeing you like this any more than you would enjoy seeing yourself right now!!”

Tishula’s hisses became growls as she listened to the dryad’s words, unable to see the face of her prey. 

“I didn’t want the wendigo to get her hands on you, I wanted to bring you back with me, to make things right after what you did, to give you another chance!!”

She could feel Tishula recoil in place from beneath her. “It’s too late for that now, and I’m sorry… but all I’m asking is for you to do the same… give me a chance? Please?” 

“Give you a chance for what?”

“I don’t know? To get on your good side? To be friends? To be your **sister**?” Brinia sat up, swiveling in place to face the medusa woman she couldn't see, her legs having fallen limp from the venom. “You could have just killed me with your venom, but you didn’t… why?”

“Because whether I like it or not, you’re one of my sssissstersss now…”

“But what does that even mean to you people?” Brinia shook her head, her mind rattling with pain. “You and your sisters don’t just do what you do because you’re scared of her, you remain obedient and submissive because there’s something between you all, something that I don’t understand.”

“It’sss a love that hasss to be earned and experienced before it can be underssstood, Alissstora-”

“Then please give me the chance to earn it… I don’t understand your love for each other, but I want to… how can you live like this… how can you possibly call her your master?”

Tishula could feel her blind eyes beginning to cry. “Becaussse I love her.”

“If you love her, then what’s the problem?” Brinia moved closer to her, taking the snake woman by her hands. “If what I did to you that night is what brought you and her together in the first place… then why are you so upset at me?”

“I jussst-” Brinia felt Tishula squeeze her hands. “I jussst want to sssee my massster’s face…”

Brinia’s heart broke just hearing it. _Of course… she doesn’t even know what Eia looks like… she doesn’t know what any of them look like…_

“I don’t even know what she looksss like Alissstora… but you do…” 

“You’re jealous of me… You just want to be able to see your master… and your sisters…”

As soon as she heard Tishula begin to sob, she wrapped her arms around the poor girl, much like she would do for her own daughter, pulling her in for an embrace. “I’m sorry…”

_So that’s what this is about._

Eia wanted her brides to embrace Brinia as their sister, that was her secret motive behind the glyphs, she wanted Brinia to grow just a little bit closer with all of her sisters, just like she was doing with Tishula now. 

“I don’t expect you to forgive me anytime soon…”

“Good…” Tishula sniffled. “Because I don’t…” 

“Are you… at least having fun?” Brinia tried to smile, despite knowing that Tishula couldn’t see it.

“A little bit…” Tishula smiled back. “But before we continue… I need your measurementsss…”

Brinia giggled to herself. “Of course…”

↞✶↠

Eia dropped the quivering hobgoblin to her knees, watching with delight as the girl flinched at even the smallest movement.

“I’m sorry, Master!!” She had tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!!!”

Her voice was squeaky, her body was trembling, and the charm on her collar was glowing with an eerie red light, a sign that her master’s magic was working, and her cheeks were glowing just as bright. 

Cerilla brought her forehead to the floor all on her own, grovelling at the wendigo’s feet. “I shouldn’t have let it happen Master, I’m sorry!! I should have come to you…”

Eia reached down, lifting the broken den mother’s chin with her left index finger, pulling her back to an upright kneeling position so that she could bring herself close to the hobgoblin’s face. “And you shouldn’t have let your sister take the fall for you…” 

“I didn’t tell her to do it, Ma’am!! I didn’t know, I swear…” Cerilla flinched, sniffling in fear despite Eia’s attempt to reach in close without making her flinch. 

Eia sighed, reaching out and forcing her bride to look at her. “This is going to cost you another fang.”

“Oh……” Hobgoblins normally had twelve very sharp fangs, but Cerilla only had seven left, she didn’t protest, but she did clench her jaw shut. 

“Make this easy for Master…” Eia very gently tapped on the girl’s closed lips. “Open your mouth for me~”

Cerilla made the most pitiful sounding whine as she looked up at her master. This wasn’t the first fang she had lost as a punishment, and it wouldn’t be the last. She opened her mouth as wide as she could, tilting her head back to make herself vulnerable. 

“Don’t bite me~”

 _Pluck_. Eia made it as quick and painless as she could, the real punishment wasn’t the agony of losing the tooth itself, but the hit to Cerilla’s pride that came with it. Every successful fang removal only brought the hobgoblin closer to a mouth full of nubbins, which Eia found positively adorable, just not quite as adorable as when Cerilla got as submissive as she was now. 

“Owwwww!!!!” Cerilla clasped her mouth shut, rubbing it from the outside. It would bleed, and there was no way to stop that. She hated having her teeth plucked, and it was a shame on her that she threatened to do the same to her new sister.

“One less dangerous fang, one more harmless little nubbin~” Eia pinched her cheek, smirking at her. “Soon enough you’ll be a vegetarian, and then I’ll have to replace you as den mother.”

“No… Please, Master… I’m doing my best…” Hearing her master say that hurt just as badly as losing another fang, and Eia knew that. “You’re not really going to make her den mother, are you, Ma’am?”

“Who?”

“Brinia!” Her voice quivered as she spoke, shaking her head in pain. 

“I have no plans to do so currently.” Eia sat in her bed, gesturing for Cerilla to come sit in her lap. “But if I do, that’s not really any of your business, is it, slave?”

“No, Ma’am…” Cerilla’s heart sunk, as did her gaze. 

“Chin up, honey~” Eia lifted her bride’s gaze back up to meet hers, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Just be a better den mother than Brinia and you won’t be replaced, okay?”

Cerilla nodded and frowned. “...and Valonda?”

Eia sighed. “That’s not really something you have to be worried about either.”

“You’re actually going to make her den mother?”

“While you’re in the waiting chamber, yes~” Eia reached her arm around the girl, gently rubbing her pregnant womb. “But once you’ve delivered, you’ll be den mother again~”

“If Valonda’s gonna be den mother, then who’s going to help deliver?” Cerilla sniffled back tears, putting her own hand over Eia’s paw. Valonda may never have helped deliver a stillborn kit, but that didn’t quite mean that it had never happened. It had, just once, and it was heartbreaking to Cerilla that it was one of hers.

“Is that why you don’t want her to be den mother…” It was almost touching to Eia. “You just don’t want to disappoint me with another stillborn?”

Cerilla blushed, and then nodded, showing Eia a rare moment of vulnerability for her. “We already lost Arleena’s…”

“Oh, princess…”

“I’m not a princess, Master…”

“ **You** are whatever I say you are~”

Brinia wasn’t the only one of Eia’s brides that she had hypnotized. Each of Eia’s brides had a counterpart, one of her sisters shared the same finger on Eia’s opposite hand, and Brinia’s was Cerilla, but the similarities didn’t stop there. Hobgoblins were naturally ferocious and difficult to tame, and Cerilla was no exception. 

Eia had a lot of trouble when it came to initially taming her den mother, and she used magic to make sure that her bride stayed in her place. Cerilla wasn’t usually this submissive, but the charm around her neck didn’t give her a choice.

“Why Brinia, Master?” Cerilla wasn’t about to argue titles with the wendigo. “Why did you pick her?”  
“She’s not just another slave, she’s my last slave, darling~” Eia held her hand out for Cerilla to see, admiring the flower charm that adorned her newest ring. “I couldn’t possibly pick just another girl, it had to be someone special~”

“Just another girl?” Cerilla sat down on the edge of the bed, the glowing red light of her charm slowly fading as she returned to her normal self. “Is that how you see some of us? Is that how you see me? As just another girl? Are **we** not special like she is?” 

“Now that’s not it at all…” Eia turned towards the hobgoblin, pressing her hand to the girl’s chest and forcing her to lay on her back. “You’re **all** special to me, each and every one of you~”

“Then why her…” Cerilla brought her arms up, hiding her face in her hands. 

“Because really… she’s just like the rest of you~” Eia put her legs on either side of Cerilla’s, prowling over her like a predator.

“How… how is she like the rest of us?” Cerilla’s placed her hands beside her head, palms up as she gazed up at the wendigo above her. 

“I was never just going to march into the village and pick a girl to keep, Cerilla… all of you have something special to you, something that catches my eye~” Eia reached downwards, stroking her bride's face. “I wear this mask to keep myself a mystery, as well as to keep me from falling for just any ordinary woman… because sometimes, a little bit of something special slips through my mask, and catches my eye…”

Eia paused, watching the hobgoblin grit her teeth in anger, but otherwise remain silent, the charm on her collar beginning to glow red with fury just as quickly as she’d calmed down. “I know you were rooting for the dryad to defeat me… but, I had no intention of bringing her back with me when I left to fight her that night. I brought her back because she broke through that mask, I felt the same thing looking at her that I felt when I first laid eyes on the rest of you… because there’s special about her, just like you, and just like Tishula…”

Cerilla spit back with ire. “But how could you love her-”

“I don’t love her. I love you, and I love Tishula, and I love all of your sisters, but I don’t love Brinia… not yet.” Eia silenced her bride, growling at the vulnerable den mother beneath her. 

“You should know better than anyone else that my love is a love that has to be earned. After everything your people have done. After everything that **you** did. After what you did to my Izona, and Valonda, and every single one of your sisters for their whole lives. **You** should know better than anyone else that my love is a love that has to be earned, because **you** have had to fight harder than anyone else to earn it.” 

Cerilla was completely speechless. 

“You, Cerilla, have had to fight harder than anyone else to earn my love, because you have done so much to hurt me and my brides, yet somehow against all odds, here you are… not just one of my brides, my den mother… I picked you as den mother, because you earned it… so you more than anyone should know what kind of battle that your new sister is going to have to fight because you have fought that battle. Nobody has had to fight for my love harder than Brinia is going to have to, except for you.”

In battle, hobgoblin’s never cried, but this was no battle for her. Cerilla had already fought her battle and won. “I love you, Master…”

“And I love you, Cerilla…” Eia gently placed a kiss on the forehead of her crying warrior. “You fought and you won, you earned my love, and the love of all of your sisters… now have faith that Brinia is going to do the same~”

↞✶↠

Brinia’s legs trembled with pain.

Her thighs were now covered with one large black and purple bruise, her snake bites having morphed into one mangled shape. The venom coursing through them continued to do their worst, making it harder and harder for the dryad to stand.

In addition, Brinia no longer needed the blindfold, the venom had rendered her now completely unable to see. Tishula could see just as well as her victim, thanks to what the dryad had done to her, and she was free to use the cloth blindfold as anything else now. She was blind, but her snakes were not, and thanks to her serpents she was able to use the blindfold to tie Brinia’s already restrained wrists to one of the poles that extended the height of the entire chamber. _The breeding posts._

“Unlessssss you want to find yourssself hanging from the breeding possst by your wrissstsss, I sssuggessst you do your bessst to remain ssstanding~”

The medusa’s voice grated on her pointed ears. Brinia grinded her teeth, the agony in her legs far surpassing the pleasure that her entranced train was trying to trick her into feeling. “You’re just picking words with the letter S in them so that you can hiss at me!!”

“They’re the easssiessst sssoundsss for me to make…” Tishula hissed into her ears, gently pinching the dryad’s earlobe between her fangs. “Now sssilenccce yourssself, before I decccide to do worssse than jussst hurt you~”

Brinia writhed in pain as she felt Tishula slowly scrape her sharp claws down her back, starting at her shoulder blades and trickling all the way down to her waist.

“Mmm~!!!!” A gasp slipped through Brinia’s lips as she felt Tishula’s nails reach her hips and squeeze the dryad’s cute little ass as tight as she could, feeling the forest spirit's leafy skin against her scales.

_Smack!!_

Her knees shook, bruised legs barely able to keep her standing. Tishula brought her hard scaly paws down on Brinia’s plump cheek, sending new waves of pleasure throughout the girl’s body.

_Smack. Smack. Smack._

“Mmmphhh!!!” Brinia pressed her forehead against the pole she was bound to, unable to pull herself away. Despite her brain trying to trick her body into feeling pleasure with every touch, she was not enjoying this. 

Tishula had found a way to push past Brinia’s hypnotic pleasure response, and had moved on to downright torturing her new sister. 

_Smack._ She kept going, watching the dryad’s blackened knees tremble with every smack of her ass.

Her knees locked, Brinia fell. Her legs spreading apart as she lost her balance, only to be caught at the wrists by the binds keeping her in place, dangling there. She couldn’t see what Tishula was doing, she couldn’t even see what she was doing, or even the poll directly in front of her. She knew this wasn’t supposed to be fun for her, but she had expected to be able to keep just a little bit of her dignity. 

Brinia struggled to try and stand back up, but her legs fought her, and before she could she felt Tishula’s scaly fingers wrapping themselves around the dryad’s serpentine vine hair, before violently yanking Brinia to her feet.

“Don’t give up on me ssso sssoon, _sssissster_ ~” Tishula hissed into Brinia’s cheek. She could feel tiny little teeth on her already sensitive ears, the pointed ears were already highly sensitive before her charm took place, but now it was impossibly sensitive to the touch.

“Mmmmph… aaaaaahhh~!!!!” Brinia just about fell to her knees again as she felt the snakes bite down on her ears, sending shivers of pleasure down her spine. It was humiliating hearing herself moan the way she was, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Ahh!! Ahhh… Mmhhmmphh!!”

“What’sss the matter sssisss?” Tishula giggled like a bully. “Isss sssomething wrong?”

“Please stop- Mmmphh!!!” She whimpered again as she felt the snakes begin pulling on them. “I’m begging you!!”

“Surely thisss doesssn’t really bother you, doesss it sssissster?” Tishula snarled at her captive dryad. “Should I call Massster and tell her that you’re not being sssubmissssive~?”

“No!!!!” Brinia shook her head violently, partially in an attempt to shake off the snakes that had attached themselves to her ears, but mostly in protest. Even in her torment she was desperate to please Eia, her master. It was the only thing that mattered to her. “Please, no!!”

“Then you had better behave~” Tishula yanked on Brinia’s hair again forcing her head to stop shaking, before delivering another hard smack to the dryad’s ass, watching her writhe. 

“I’m sorry, Tishula!!” Brinia’s eyes were watering from the pain, her voice cracking as she spoke. “Please, I’m sorry…”

“That’sss jussst too bad, your apology isss too little too late for my liking~” Brinia felt a pair of new snakes beginning to graze their teeth on the dryad’s lower lip, prompting her to begin shaking her head anew. 

One of the miniature vipers caught Brinia by the bottom lip and began to pull at it, the other serpent doing the same from the other side as they both sank their fangs into Brinia’s lower lip. “Mmmmph…”

 _Smack._ Another slap to her ass sent her reeling, beginning to fall to the floor, but this time it wasn’t the restraints at her wrists that she hung by, the snakes were attached to her, threatening to rip her face apart, and Tishula promptly pulled Brinia back to her feet by the snakes on her ears. 

“Aaaaaugh!!!!” The pain was excruciating for Brinia, and there was no strength left in her to hold back her tears, the droplets dripping down her face and onto the floor of the chamber below. 

But those weren’t the only things dripping onto the floor. The bubbling sensation in her brain was terrifyingly good at making this whole ordeal pleasurable for her, and she was loving it. There was a pool of delicious juices on the floor between her feet, dripping straight from Brinia’s eagerly salivating flower. “I’ll be good, Miss… I swear…”

“That meansss nothing to me~” Tishula parted Brinia’s lips, beginning to slip a pair of her fingers into the dryad’s mouth.

Unable to control herself, Brinia bit down. **Hard**. The hypnotic pleasure and pain coursing through her clouded her thoughts and her judgement, making restraint impossible for her. “I-I’m sorry!!”

Tishula growled angrily, spreading Brinia’s mouth open again. “You had better be!!!!”

 _Pluck._ Brinia screamed. Tishula made it as slow and painful for the dryad as she possibly could, wanting Brinia to writhe in agony at the pain as she pulled the sharpest tooth from her mouth. 

“I get to bite, you don’t.” Tishula’s snakes once again dug their fangs into Brinia’s face, and Tishula did the same, sinking her teeth into Brinia’s lower lip as she forced her tongue into the dryad’s mouth, licking up the blood pooling from the empty spot where her tooth once was. 

It was nothing at all like a kiss, it was like a vampire sucking the blood from her face, her lips never met the medusa’s lips or skin. It was agonizing, and it took everything from Brinia not to do it all over again and bite the medusa’s black forked tongue clean off. Tishula even refused to relent once it had stopped bleeding, beginning to lick the pained tears from the girl’s face as they flowed from her eyes, listening to Brinia’s pained sobs.

“I’m s-sorry, Miss Tishula…” Brinia shook her head, her ears finally freed from the snakes fangs, now black with bruises. 

Tishula could smell the delicious pool of pollens pouring from the petals the of poor girl’s flower, her pistils leaking onto the floor. “That’sss Madame Iznittet, my preciousss ssslave~”

“Yes, Madame… Please…” Brinia sobbed and nodded, her flower aching for release. She hung her head, spreading her legs as far apart as she could without falling to the floor below. “I’m begging you…”

“Then let’sss finish thisss, shall we?” Tishula snickered, hungry for the dryad’s sweet quim.

“Mmm… Ahh~!!!” Brinia felt a pair of fangs pierce each of her breasts at the nipple on Tishula’s way down, the snakes long enough to reach up to the dryad’s breasts. 

“Please, Madame…Mmmph~!!!” Brinia gasped and moaned loudly as she felt Tishula’s tongue slip her labia once more, licking up the dryad’s pollens.

“Th- thank you…”

Brinia knew where that tongue had been, but she didn’t care, all that mattered to her was humiliating waves of pleasure that suddenly crashed in on her as she came into Tishula’s mouth once again, her fangs digging into her flower.

“I’m sorry…” Brinia’s blind eyes closed, her knees giving out one final time as she fell limp, riding her orgasm all the way out until she lost consciousness. 

↞✶↠

“Looks like someone’s just had their ass handed to them, huh?”

Eia looked down at the still unconscious dryad, watching the purple glyph slowly fade as Tishula was finished with her. She looked her entire body over carefully, the bondage now removed, taking note of every single bite mark, bruise, and scratch on her newest trophy.

“The sssensssory depravation isss temporary Massster, I promissse! I ssswear!!” Tishula cowered at her master’s feet, afraid of what the wendigo might do to her. 

“It’s alright, my dearest snake charmer, just as long as it does actually wear off~” Eia smiled at the totally overjoyed medusa at her feet, the ditzy little beauty positively humming with excitement and pride at having conquered the dryad. “I hope my little guard dog has had fun with her new chew toy today. What do you think of her now?”

“She’sss not too tough, isss she, Massster?” Tishula licked her lips, looking up at Eia with a fang filled grin. 

“No, she’s not… and neither are you~” Eia reached down and gently pet the medusa on the head, glaring at her serpentine head of hair as they began to lunge at her, before slowly recoiling away, letting Eia do whatever she wanted with their host. Tishula also quivered nervously, doing her best not to bite her master, for fear of having one of her own teeth pulled out. 

“You don’t want one of your fangs pulled out too, do you?” Eia smiled and licked her own lips as she watched the medusa recoil in place at her feet, shaking her head desperately. Giving the girl her own fang filled grin, which the medusa couldn’t see. “Then lick the floor clean~”

The medusa slithered to the pool of pollens that Brinia had made on the floor during the torture session, more than eager to do exactly as her master told her, the sweet taste of the dryad’s juices making the experience all the more pleasant for her. 

“Yesss, Massster~!!!”

Tishula had come a long way since the first time she had said those words, and it warmed Eia’s heart. She could still vividly remember the state that Brinia had left her in that night she found her, and she was glad that Tishula had gotten some payback against the dryad. 

She had spent a lot of time nursing Tishula back to health, and training her into a workable shape, and it felt good to see the medusa so happy. 

“Make sure you have some clothes for Brinia by tomorrow morning, alright?”

“Of courssse, Massster~” Tishula nodded her head, flicking her tongue at Eia as she spoke. “I love you, Massster~” 

“I love you too, darling~” Eia smiled, relieved that the tension between the medusa and her newest sister had been eased for now. Tishula had done a lot to earn her master’s love, and it couldn’t have been easy for her to change her ways to fit Eia’s desires, but she did it, just for her~ 

If the dryad hadn’t done what she did to Tishula that night, the medusa never would have become one of Eia’s brides. They both knew that, and they appreciated it, and accepted it. Tishula’s lack of sight was a product of what brought the two of them together, and it was eventually going to be just a little bittersweet when that cute little quirk of hers finally went away. But Eia wanted Tishula to be happy.

“You’ll get to see Master’s face someday Tishula~” Eia looked down at the dryad, shaking her head as the dryad’s remarkable healing abilities, Brinia’s lips already having been healed back to normal. “I’ll make sure of it~”

“Thank you, Massster… I can’t wait~” Tishula’s heart fluttered at just the thought of it, blowing her master a quick kiss before returning to cleaning the floors, prompting Eia to finally turn her complete attention to the dryad, looking over her injured body.

“Let’s take a good look at you then, shall we?”


	9. Mother Nature

“Looks like you’re not the only one to lose a fang today~”

Eia gently placed the unconscious dryad onto the bed, laying her on her side. 

“She didn’t…” Cerilla opened Brinia’s lips to take a look, wincing at the missing tooth, now feeling bad for putting the idea in Tishula’s head in the first place. “Is that allowed, Ma’am… didn’t you say no permanently altering her?”

“I did, but considering the specific circumstances between Brinia and Tishula, I think I can let just one fang slide.” Eia sat on the bed next to her slaves, wrapping her hand around Cerilla’s wrist and pulling her hand away from Brinia’s mouth. “Besides, I’m not so sure that Brinia’s tooth won’t just regrow itself~”

“Regrow itself?” Cerilla let herself fall into her master’s grasp, scooting towards Eia on the bed. “Can she do that?”

“I’m not quite sure, but she does have some amazing healing capabilities~”

“What other sort of capabilities does she have, Ma’am?”

Ten years was a long time, but even after all of those years the former general found herself continuing to wonder what kinds of things that the forest’s guardian was capable of. Cerilla had been a young general, and it was hard for her to put her military past behind her, after spending so much of her life as a warrior and a soldier. 

_...Could I have beaten her head on? _

“Worry not Cerilla, her magic belongs to me now, eternally locked away from her~”

“But what if I don’t want it locked away from her?” Cerilla examined the unconscious dryad like she examined an enemy soldier, unafraid to learn as much as she could about her foe.

“She’s not one of your soldiers, slave.” Eia tightened her grip on Cerilla’s wrists, holding her in her lap, unmoving. “Now quiet yourself and let your new sister recover.”

Cerilla grinded her teeth, unable to quell her desire to fight the dryad at her full strength. Even as she laid there, her healing magic did its work, making quick work of tending to her wounds. “How is she even doing that?”

“How am I doing what, exactly?” Brinia’s voice was weak and raspy, having lost it when she screamed for Tishula’s sadistic pleasure.

The hobgoblin growled, envious of the dryad’s healing potential. “How are you even awake?”

Brinia winced in pain, her body still aching from the terrible beating that she had just been put through. “I don’t want to be…”

Eia licked her lips, loosening her grip on Cerilla’s wrists as she moved towards the dryad. “How does it feel, thrall?”

Brinia gritted her teeth, blinking her eyes as she looked around the room, slowly regaining her vision.  _ Bite me… _

“So, what? She can’t control her healing magic?” Cerilla took notes in her head, thinking like a soldier. 

“I’m  **allowing** her to heal between punishments.” Eia smiled as she ran her fingers along Brinia’s hips, watching the dryad wince in pain. “How else do you expect to survive this, dryad?”

Brinia’s now functioning eyes rolled back in her head as she soundlessly squealed with pain, wanting nothing less than to go back to sleep until she had recovered. 

“Then let’s just turn it back off.” From Eia’s side, Cerilla pressed her finger against the glowing red glyph on Brinia’s collarbone. “Say the command word.”

“No!!” Brinia opened her eyes and glared at the hobgoblin woman. Cerilla watched her sister’s eyes grow wide with shock and disgust, her mouth falling agape with disbelief. “I am  **not** saying that!!” 

“What, the command word?” Cerilla felt Eia once again grab her wrist, pulling the hobgoblin’s wrist away from the dryad.

“I can’t say that, Eia… Please change it…” Brinia closed her eyes and laid her head back out, letting out a pained sigh. “I’m begging you…”

Eia smirked, pressing a pair of fingers to Brinia’s lips and watching her gasp with fear. “No more torture for tonight, I’m afraid… If you want to invite Brinia to play, she can join of her own accord~”

Brinia scoffed, gasping with pain through her breath as she rolled over onto her side, turning away from the pair of women. She would surrender herself to the type of torment it took to keep her people safe, but there was no way in hell that she was going to willingly join in on some sort of sick display of consummation with her captor, let alone her captor’s brides. 

“...Shouldn’t she be saying yes, Master?”

“Let her be, Cerilla… She needs to recover.” In an instant, Eia turned her full attention back to the hobgoblin, pushing her down onto her back at the other side of the large bed, before climbing on top of her. “It means you get me to yourself~”

Brinia very much should be saying yes, no matter what her master asked of her, but after such a painful day, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She would follow orders if necessary, but there was no way that she could willingly submit, not tonight.

Eia would be well within her rights to further punish the dryad for not joining, but she didn’t want to break her new trophy yet. She was patient, she could wait however long it took to get her to grow submissive.

Cerilla laid on her back, feeling the hungry breath of her owner above her, yet for some reason she couldn’t take her eyes off of the dryad just yet. Desperately wanting to find out what her new sister was made of. “But-”

“Shhh…” Eia quietly shushed her den mother, running her fingers through the hobgoblin’s coarse black hair, ready to tear her bride apart. “Set a good example for her, my little warrior.”

Cerilla’s glowing auburn eyes stared deeply into the overwhelmingly powerful gaze of her master, setting her open hands on either side of her, signalling her ready submission to the hungry wendigo. “My empress…”

Eia gave her a hungry smile, brandishing her fangs in a display of dominance, mocking her newly defanged slave. “My loyal soldier~”

↞✶↠

Brinia laid in Eia’s bed, unable to fall asleep, her body aching with excruciating pain as she tried to ignore the sounds behind her. 

She didn’t regret turning down the wendigo’s offer to join in on the festivities, but Cerilla certainly sounded like she was enjoying herself. There was no hesitation in the hobgoblin’s submission, it was eager and passionate, and there was no doubt in Brinia’s mind that Eia and Cerilla were in love. 

_ What do you all see in her… _

Brinia never felt that sort of intimacy with Tishula. There was no love or joy between them, only bitterness and jealousy. She and the medusa had grown to understand each other, but Brinia was still far from earning her sister’s love. 

Brinia needed to somehow earn the kind of love that she saw between Eia and Cerilla. She didn’t expect her sisters to forgive her so easily, but she needed to start somewhere.

“Mmm…” She grumbled, still wracked with pain, her legs throbbing as she struggled to sit up, her back still turned away from the pair of women beside her. 

Out of morbid curiosity, she glanced behind her for just a moment. The master and slave hadn’t even noticed her. Now stripped naked with her hands tied behind her head, Cerilla’s legs were splayed on either side of Eia’s as the wendigo ate out of the quim of her bound slave. 

On the surface, it looked a lot like the way Brinia and Tishula had been doing the very same. But there was a passion between them that the dryad hadn’t received from her sister, one that she was now longing for.  _ I have to start somewhere. _

She turned onto her other side, careful not to aggravate any of her injuries as she faced them, watching her master intently as she waited for the wendigo to bring Cerilla to a finish. 

Cerilla was gasping for breath as soon as it was finished, rolling her head back onto the pillow behind her. “Master?”

Cerilla tilted her head to the side as her master descended upon her, planting loving kisses on her slave’s neck as she slid her hands along the hobgoblin’s orange skin, pressing down on her. “Yes, my dear?”

Cerilla nodded her head, trying to gesture to her sister before turning back to her master, burying her head in the wendigo’s neck. 

“Trouble sleeping, hon?” Eia’s voice was neither condescending nor cruel. 

“Yes, Ma’am…” Brinia tried not to make eye contact with either woman. 

“Is there something you need?” Eia wasn’t going to push for Brinia to join in on what had practically become nightly sex with her brides, she was going to make sure that the dryad asked on her own. 

“Would you like me to join?” Brinia, on the other hand did not want to join in of her own accord, she wanted to be told what to do, she wanted Eia to make this easy for her. 

“We’re done for tonight, actually.” Eia grinned, shaking her head before looking down at Cerilla. On queue, Cerilla nodded her head and turned towards one of the drawers, producing for Eia a pair of leather leashes, delivering them to her master’s waiting hand. 

Brinia's heart twisted just a little bit. She was extremely relieved that she wasn't going to have to engage in the wendigo's fun tonight, especially after the kind of day she had just been through. 

She didn't want to have sex with either of them in the first place, and she wasn't being forced to join in for the sex. If her master ordered her to come play along, she would have immediately done so, regardless of how bad her injuries still were.

But she was also kind of disappointed at the same time. Eia had given Brinia the choice to join in but she had declined, and 

she couldn't help but feel like that had been the wrong choice. 

Cerilla was right, Brinia should have said yes, even if she didn't want to. Now she regretted not doing so, and she was just now kicking herself for saying no in the first place.

"Right… my apologies for not joining in sooner." 

"Awfully talkative all of a sudden, aren't you?" Eia could keep going and give the dryad a chance to jump in, but she wanted to help cement it in her new bride's head that if she wanted to make her master happy, she would need to be willing to to submit without hesitation, not after an hour of laying down and thinking it over before coming to a decision on her own time.

"Is there something wrong with wanting to make conversation, Ma'am?" Brinia needed to start gaining Eia's trust somewhere, and even if offering herself for sex was off the table for tonight, she could at least try and make friendly conversation.

"The tone could use some work, but other than that, not at all… it's just that it's not something that you usually do." Eia could read Brinia's motivations, the dryad was only doing this to try and gain trust and not because she genuinely wanted this, and Eia was calling her out on that.

"I have to start somewhere." Brinia felt cornered, mentally and physically. Eia was a much bigger creature, and not just in stature. She had the upper hand in these clashes of words just like she had the upper hand in a fight. Unlike her brides, she had peered through Brinia's mask, she could read and predict her in a way that Tishula couldn't. 

"You do, but perhaps now is not the time." Eia turned away from the dryad, her ears still tuned in to listen to Brinia even as she began to affix one of the leashes to the collar of the hobgoblin beneath her, Cerilla having been patiently waiting for her to do so as she recovered from her orgasm.

"May I ask what the leash is for, Ma'am?" Brinia almost tilted her head in confusion as she watched the wendigo place her bride on a leash. "I thought you were done for tonight."

"Maybe that's your problem." Eia didn't even turn to her as she spoke, gently pulling on Cerilla's leash to make sure that it was secure, admiring her work throughout. "Thinking isn't going to help you understand any more than you already do."

"Less thinking then…" Brinia swallowed nervously, unsure of what to do in the face of what was now happening. Eia's words were still neither condescending nor cruel, they were just piercingly honest. Eia was blunt and to the point, but her words were still more helpful than hostile. 

"Your turn. Lay down." Eia gently set Cerilla's leash down on the girl's chest before turning to Brinia so that she could do the same to the dryad.

"Pardon?" Brinia was on her back beneath Eia before she even realized it, watching the wendigo begin to attach a leash to her own collar in much the same way that she had just finished doing with Cerilla. "I don't think a leash is necessary, Ma'am. I couldn't open the doors even if I tried to run."

"I think you know already that it's not about keeping you from running, or else why would I do the same to your den mother." Eia very carefully tied the leash to the head of Brinia's collar before tugging on it to make sure that it was secure. "If you wish to sleep in my chamber, you will sleep on a leash."

"Is that why you have two of them on hand?"

"More than that. I have ten brides, I rarely sleep with less than two of them, the last few days have been an exception." Eia sat up, reaching her other hand over to Cerilla and wrapping the end around her forearm. "Think of it this way, you want to be treated like one of my brides rather than one of my enemies, don't you?"

Brinia bit her bottom lip, taking a hold of the other end of her own leash before Eia could take it. "I do…"

"Then consider it a small victory that I put you on a leash and let you sleep in my bed like your sisters, instead of handing you off to whoever is next in line." Eia held her right hand out for the leash, neither forcefully prying it from the dryad's grasp nor commanding her to hand it over. More than willing to let Brinia hold onto it for the night, and in the process, making the same mistake of not saying 'yes' when her master wants something from her. "You can hold onto it yourself if that makes you feel safer."

Brinia clutched the leather lead as tight as she could for a few moments while she thought it over. 

How was this difficult for her? Eia wasn't asking for sex, or commanding her to harm innocent civilians for her own enjoyment, she was being gentle and letting Brinia make the decision herself. But Eia's refusal to make demands of her new slave was eating away at Brinia. She could follow orders, but she couldn't just give herself up willingly, it was difficult for her. Even worse, Eia was making it painfully obvious that not only was Brinia making a mistake by not giving the wendigo what she wanted, she was making it clear to Brinia that she wasn't going to help make this any easier for her.

"Wait-" As soon as Eia began to retract her hand away from the girl, Brinia gave, letting go of the leash and letting it fall onto the bed beside her. "Take it, please." 

Eia simply extended her hand towards the dryad once more, letting her silence speak for her. Eia wasn't going to be taking the leash from Brinia, she wouldn't even go as far as picking it up from on top of the blankets below. 

If Brinia wanted Eia to hold onto her leash, she was going to be putting it directly into her master's hand, and she knew that. 

"Here." Brinia picked the leash up, hesitating for just a moment before finally putting the controlling end of her leash directly into Eia's waiting hand, much like Cerilla had done when she first retrieved the leash. "Please."

The small sign of submission seemed to be enough to satisfy Eia for the night. The wendigo said nothing further, simply wrapping the leash around her arm before rolling onto her back and pulling her other slave towards her as she finally settled down to sleep. 

↞✶↠

Despite her attempts, Brinia was the last to fall asleep, just as she was seemingly the last to wake up.

"If you weren't going to join in, then why sleep in here in the first place?"

It was Cerilla's voice that greeted Brinia, not Eia's. 

"Not that I'm complaining about getting Master to myself, but you should realize that it's not fair to your other sisters." Cerilla didn't really care whether or not she was waking Brinia up, in fact she was deliberately making sure that she did so as soon as Eia had left the two of them alone in the chamber. "Arleena or Noriza could have been in here instead of you, and they would have gladly jumped at the opportunity to join in, had you not been the one in here instead."

Brinia wanted to grind her teeth together and growl at Cerilla, but she needed to gain the trust of all of her sisters.  _ I need to start somewhere… _

"I didn't think of that..." Brinia rolled over onto her side, facing away from Cerilla before realizing that she was expected to show some level of respect to the other woman. "I'm sorry… Miss?"

"Mother." Brinia felt the end of her leash being pulled, rolling her back towards Cerilla, the leash now wrapped around the hobgoblin's forearm rather than Eia's, who seemed to be missing. "Save 'Master' and 'Ma'am' for our actual master. You can address me as Mother."

_ Mother? _ Brinia bit her tongue, trying not to question it too much. "Did you have children?" 

It was just a slightly friendlier way of saying, _ 'are you even a real mother?'  _ and the both of them knew that. "I'm  **your** den mother, which makes that question irrelevant."

Cerilla sat up, leaning over Brinia as she once again placed her right index finger on the red glyph burned into Brinia's skin, sending a tingling sensation down both of their spines. "The command phrase."

Brinia whined under her breath, hearing the command words in her mind once more, unchanged even after begging Eia to rewrite them.

_ It's like tearing off a bandage. _

"My conqueror… Superior creatures belong on top, therefore I hereby submit to your hobgoblin superiority, and swear to obey your every command while my term of service lasts… what are my orders, General?"

The red glyph on the right side of Brinia’s collarbone began to glow, emanating an eerie red light that quickly overtook her. She felt her healing magic once again slip away from her, as well as the hypnotic shroud that demanded control of her brain and body. 

“I suppose General works just as well~” Cerilla smirked, eager to play a game that she hadn’t even considered. “Since you’re such an eager soldier, your orders are threefold.”    
_ God damn you, Eia. _

“Step one, arm yourself, and by that I mean get dressed, which means seeing Tishula,  _ then  _ making a trip to the arming chamber and retrieving some proper armor for myself.”

“Step two, meet me at my private chamber once you have finished, I have commanded control of Izona’s chambers so you shouldn’t have trouble getting to me, assuming you’re not going places you shouldn’t.”

“Step three, once you’ve returned to me in my chamber, you will dress me, and we will leave.”

_ Wait, what? _ Brinia paused, checking and rechecking to make sure she understood what was just said. “You mean we’re not gonna have sex… you’re not going to punish me for not joining in last night?”

“You’re with me today, thanks to that charm, I control you. You’re my slave for the foreseeable future.” Cerilla stood up, yanking Brinia to her feet beside her. “That means you’re a hobgoblin’s slave, so I am going to teach you what it’s like to be owned by the Najistairean empire.” 

It was unthinkable, Brinia was in heat. She was disgusted at herself, all of a sudden instead of being relieved that Cerilla didn’t actually plan on violating her like Tishula had, Brinia was more upset that Cerilla  _ wasn’t  _ going to use her like a sex doll. “Th-then what are we doing, Mother? What does that make me?”

“It makes you military property, my soldier, my slave. Mine to use however I want.” Cerilla dragged Brinia, still digging her heels into the floor, all the way to the door. “I have things to attend to today, now follow orders.” 

“Did Master approve of this?” Brinia bit her lip, wanting Cerilla to turn around and push her back onto the bed.  _ She couldn’t have approved of this, only Eia can open the door to her chamber.  _ “I- I thought only Master could open that door?”

“You thought correctly, but I have a clever workaround.” Brinia was quickly proven wrong, as Cerilla effortlessly pushed the door into the grand chamber open.

“But how…” From Brinia’s understanding, that door was the only door in the den that the den mother didn’t have control over. “Magic?”

“Tenacity.” Cerilla shoved Brinia through the door, forcing her to the ground at her feet. 

“Master gave you access-”

“Master did no such thing, I’m afraid. She knows that I don’t need it~”

“If not magic, then how?”

“You ask a lot of questions, and I can only assume that it’s because you want to seek knowledge in the efforts of learning how to better serve your master, and not because you seek to undermine her in any way, shape, or form…” Cerilla pulled the crouching dryad to her feet one last time before dropping the leash entirely. “Luckily for you, I’m an open book, so let me tell you, because it might just break your mind~”

Cerilla stepped forward, letting the door gently close behind her. “This door isn’t alive, it can’t actually see you or I, or even our master, it’s magic… You mages fret over what magic is, what it can and can’t do, and how to counter it… But I am not magic, and I don’t need magic to open this door.”

“But how…” Brinia pressed her hands against the door, trying and failing to push the door open, desperately wanting to understand how to achieve something so seemingly impossible without use of her own magic, like Cerilla could. “Please, teach me…”

“The only person who can open this door is Eia. She has never once given access to anyone else.” Cerilla placed the palms of her hands over Brinia’s hands, pushing the door open with ease. “Stop being you, and start being Eia.”

Brinia trembled as Cerilla gently took her by the hands. “How do I do that?”

“By slowing down and working on yourself first…” Cerilla gently closed Brinia’s hands into fists, overcoming the dryad’s grip strength. “Do you feel that resistance in your hands trying to stop me from controlling your movements?”

“Yes.” Cerilla’s orange hobgoblin palms felt so soft on Brinia’s skin, sending a pleasant tingling through her body. “I do, Mother.”

“That resistance is you, it’s this disconnect between us, protecting you from me.” Cerilla pried the girl’s hands open, doing the same thing once again to demonstrate. “Do you really think it’s possible for that door to objectively be able to tell whose hands are trying to push it open?”

“Not exactly, no…”

“The magic keeping this door shut is Eia’s magic, it’s a part of her… her will is for the door to only open for her. It’s her willpower that keeps the door shut, and it’s her willpower alone that can open that door.” Cerilla took one of Brinia’s hands and placed it against the door. “I don’t need magic to trick the door into thinking that I’m someone I’m not… because I am Eia… I’m an extension of her willpower, I’m a part of her~”

“You’ve surrendered your soul to her…” Brinia took a deep breath, pressing into the door as hard as she could, unable to budge the barrier. “Not just body and mind… but even down to the very essence of what you are…”

“I’m not going to just bend you over and command that you have sex with me today. I’m the den mother, I get what I want, when I want, how I want it… and if I wanted it, I would already have it.” Cerilla pulled Brinia’s hand from the door, looking her directly in the eyes. “I’m going to use my one day in charge of you to help teach you~”

“Why… Why would you want to help me?”

“Because you and I both know that this isn’t about revenge or punishment… Master placed that charm on you because she wanted to create a bond between you and your sisters.” Cerilla placed a single finger under Brinia’s chin and lifted it, much the same way that Eia always had. “So, let’s have some mother daughter bonding time, shall we?”

_ Damn, she’s good…  _ Brinia swallowed nervously, nodding her head in hesitant submission. “Yes, Mother.”

↞✶↠

“Let’sss sssee how it fitsss~” 

It was a very simple gown, sunrise orange like Cerilla’s skin or Fennecca’s fur, woven from completely organic plant fiber. The dryad’s body just couldn’t handle metal or other materials that were similarly artificial in origin. “That’sss sssarcasssm, of courssse, I can’t actually sssee what it looksss like, and I don’t really care either way, what you get isss what you get~”

“It fits perfectly, Tishula…” Brinia examined it more carefully, admiring the black sash tied into a bow around her waist, and the ornate petticoat under her skirt. “I assume there’s nothing to go underneath?”

“Massster doesssn’t even let me wear a ssskirt, why should I make you undergarmentsss?” Tishula hissed, waiting by the door out back into the grand chamber. “Now if you’ll excussse me, I can’t actually open thisss door, I work under Valonda, Izzy’s doorsss are unbreakable to me.”

_ Then why don’t you just become one with Izona then? _

Brinia found herself in a brand new chamber to her, the hosting chamber. It was clearly the hub of operations for Izona’s half of the den. The hosting chamber was accessible from the grand chamber through the very same door that Izona had first introduced Brinia’s to her glowing blue glyph. From the hosting chamber, there were doors into five additional chambers, each of which shared the same blue glyph. Tishula apparently didn’t have access, but Cerilla had granted it to Brinia. 

“I can get it for you.” Brinia started towards the door, opening it up with relative ease. “I didn’t expect something this nice… Thank you for this Tishula.”

“Hey, ummm… before you go-” The door into the arming chamber opened up as well, and both Tishula and Brinia stopped to watch Arleena step into the hosting chamber with them, finally having returned from retrieving armor for Cerilla.

“Oh sssweetie, doesss Mommy need to come help?” Tishula clearly carried the same care and affection for Arleena that the flame genie did. 

“No!!! I got it!!!” Arleena was struggling, but she clearly didn’t want any help. She could do this on her own, she couldn’t continue to let herself be seen as a failure, even if none of her sisters saw her as such. She set the armor down, heaving as she spoke. “I just… wanted to catch you… before you both left…”

“Ari sssweetheart I’m not going anywhere yet, jussst look at you…” Tishula quickly slithered to Arleena, practically constricting the poor girl. 

“I’m fine, Tish… Master wanted me back to work today, so I’m going to work.” It was a kind of dedication to her master that Brinia hadn’t really seen just yet. Arleena was devoted to doing as Eia wanted with very little regard for herself, it was almost self destructive.

But there it was again regardless, love. They loved each other. Even if Arleena’s love for Eia was self destructive, it was still love, it was how she could very nearly die one day, and be desperate to go back to work the next. Arleena loved Eia, and Eia loved Arleena. 

Clearly, the same was true for Tishula, who loved her master enough to accept Brinia as her sister, not only the person responsible for permanently blinding her, but also the person who had almost killed Arleena. 

Brinia didn’t feel any sort of connection with Tishula, but it wasn’t because Tishula was incapable of love, because Tishula clearly loved Arleena, just as fiercely as Eia did. But unlike the latter two, Tishula was still clearly enraged at Brinia for laying hands on the wraith in the first place. “Are you sure you’re okay, sssweetpea… you really aren’t ssstill upssset with the druid?”

Forging any sort of relationship with Arleena was going to be difficult for Brinia. Not only did she still feel terrible about what she did to the wraith, but she also still felt some bitterness towards Arleena for being the reason she was here in the first place. Yet at least on the surface, Arleena didn’t seem to care one way or another. 

“She’s fine Tishula, really…” Arleena, once again on her own, painstakingly dragged the suit of armor over to Brinia. “Here… It’s Mother’s favorite… She wouldn’t accept anything less…”

“Thank you, Arleena…” Arleena was clearly quite hard on herself, extremely hard working for little recognition. “I’m still very sorry about what happened, and about the whole-”   
“It’s fine, really. I’m just a hideous walking corpse, it’s understandable why you wouldn’t stop to think before you did what you did.” She also clearly didn’t hold herself in very high regard, interrupting Brinia before she could even finish apologizing.

“Sssilence sssweetie, you’re gourgeousss…” Tishula didn’t appreciate Arleena’s dark humor or self deprecating attitude, very quickly attaching herself to the girl again and cooing at her.

“Don’t sell yourself short, sweetheart.” Arleena reminded Brinia of Fennecca in a lot of ways, she was older than she looked, being not only an elf but a deceased elf, but she still looked like a teenager, and there was something about her that looked almost familiar. Arleena helped Brinia carry the armor all the way to the mother’s chamber outside, determined to get there before the dryad did, as if she had something to prove.

Brinia realized that she didn’t need help delivering the armor to Cerilla, it wasn’t actually all that heavy, Arleena was just not fully recovered, but she let Arleena help anyways. “Thank you for helping.”

“It’s the least I can do, considering…” Arleena turned her gaze away, having to stop for breath. “Thanks for doing this for me, Brinia…”

“Thank you for what?”

“For finding Montemaster for me… or at least trying to.”

“Montemaster?”

“Cerilla can tell you, I need to get back to work...” Arleena knocked on the door to the mother’s chamber, still somehow out of breath, despite Brinia not being sure if she needed to breathe in the first place. “Good luck.”

“You too.” Brinia was begrudgingly quite relieved when the wraith did finally leave. She could tell that Arleena still didn’t want to be around her, despite insisting otherwise. The girl was already out of sight before Cerilla came to open the door.

“I told you the door was going to be open, slave.” Cerilla impatiently tapped her foot, standing in the doorway. 

“It wasn’t me, it was Arleena.” Brinia presented the armor to her commanding officer. “She helped carry them out.”

“Of course she did, she’s going to kill herself one of these days…” Cerilla stepped into the war room, just about letting the door close on Brinia before she could enter. Cerilla sat on one of her stools, watching Brinia drag the armor inside. “Get to it and dress me, we don’t have all day to waste, slave.”

“Yes,  **General** .” Brinia growled under her breath as she found herself hurrying to Cerilla’s side, beginning to obediently don the hobgoblin’s armor for her. 

Cerilla was still bewildering to Brinia. She clearly had a strong sense of pride in herself and her military background, she loved showing off her prowess as a hobgoblin general. Yet still she was somehow able to claim that she was nothing more than a part of Eia, able to open the door that only Eia could. “Permission to speak, General?”

That time the word came out a lot more genuine than the first, because Brinia actually meant it the second time, and Cerilla appreciated it. More So than when she was with Tishula, Brinia’s time with Cerilla was less riddled with her body rewarding her with pleasure for being touched and more centered around her brain rewarding her with pleasure for obedience. “Permission granted.”

“What’s our plan now, did you mention going somewhere?” Brinia lifted up the heavy metal chest piece, slowly and carefully securing it onto Cerilla’s chest. “Arleena mentioned something about-”

“Montemaster, yes… she’s been obsessing about that thing.” Cerilla turned to face Brinia, gesturing for her to start helping her put on her greaves. “It’s her sword, it means a lot to her.” 

“Her sword?” Brinia knelt before Cerilla, having had plenty of experience donning and doffing armor. “What does her sword have to do with anything?”

“It’s not just any sword, it’s special to her.”

“Special how?”

“Because it was a gift from her Master… Hence the name.”

“Montemaster?”

“It means ‘My Master’s Blessing’ in Elvish, I believe.”

“I know Elvish, and it’s definitely not that…”

“Well it’s probably Drow then.”

“Drow? Is Arleena a drow? I thought Arleena was a wood elf?”

“That grey skin and silver hair of hers isn’t just because she’s a corpse, she looked like that even when she was alive… She’s a drow.”

“You knew her when she was alive, then?”

“Very briefly…” Cerilla smirked, rising to her feet as soon as she was satisfied that her armor was secure. “Who do you think killed her?”

“Hobgoblins…” Brinia rose to her feet, simply following Cerilla’s lead. 

“Good guess, but it was actually Master.”

“Wait… Eia killed Arleena?”

“She did indeed… and then, when the little drow girl popped back to life before she became dinner, Master took it as a sign of something special.”

“But how could she love the woman who killed her?”

“The same way that you will eventually fall in love with the woman who claimed you… You and Arleena aren’t actually very different, Master fell in love with you both because of the way you fought, maybe your fight with Arleena was a sign to her as well.”

“I don’t understand… If Master claimed her, then gave her this sword, how exactly did she lose it, especially if it’s so special to her?”

“Oh, I don’t know, what kind of fights has she gotten into recently…” Cerilla stood, wrapping one finger in the dryad’s green hair and twirling it in her hand. “Oh right, that would be because of you.”

Brinia sighed, turning her gaze downwards but otherwise unable to pull herself away from Cerilla. “...it’s in my situation room.”

“So you know where it is, perfect!” Cerilla pried her hand away from Brinia’s hair and grabbed a hold of the end of the leash dangling from her neck. “Wrap this around your arm and then take me there.”

“Don’t you want to hold it, Mother?”

“I would love to, but I need both hands ready to defend myself~”

“And I don’t?” Brinia scoffed at the hobgoblin, even despite the fact that she was already wrapping it around her arm like she was told, the sweet hypnotic buzz in her brain continued to encourage obedience from her. “If we’re just going to the village, then what’s with the armor? Who’s going to attack you?” 

“I’m a hobgoblin, Brinia… do you really expect me to be able to walk into Thorn without being attacked?”

“But you’re not with Najistaire-”

“They don’t know that. Don’t tell me that you didn’t immediately assume I was with Najistaire the first time you met me.” 

“You’re not too bad…”

“Why thank you, thrall… but I don’t really blame them for wanting to take up arms against me just from seeing me… After all-” Cerilla grinned, reaching over to one of Brinia’s sensitive ears and watching her squeak in pleasure as she rubbed it between her fingers. “Mice are taught to be afraid of snakes, aren’t they?”

↞✶↠

“You can tree stride, can’t you, dryad?” Brinia brought Cerilla right to the edge of the village nearest her villa, taking the long way around the village rather than cutting through it and drawing attention to themselves.

“Not without my magic, no.” Brinia gripped onto the end of her leash as tightly as she could, the length of the lead wrapped around her left arm. 

“Then we’ll have to find another way in, won’t we?” Cerilla growled under her breath, staring up at the solid barrier of tree trunks. 

“Are you sure that Master approves of this, Cerilla?” Brinia glanced over at the hobgoblin. “That looks like a pretty clear sign that she doesn’t want going in or coming out.”

Cerilla was already climbing the nearest tree. “Focus soldier, climb onto my back and we’ll go in together.”

“I can climb trees by myself, General.” Brinia was quite literally made of trees, the forest spirit could scale the height of the forest barrier with ease, a lot quicker and easier than the hobgoblin could, even without her armor to weigh her down.

“I said get on my back, dryad. I didn’t really ask whether you wanted to or not.” Cerilla held out her hand towards Brinia, gesturing with one finger for her to follow. “I command, and you do what?”

“I follow, got it.” Brinia wasn’t usually so quick to do as told, but the buzz in her brain made it easy for her. She wrapped her arms around Cerilla, hanging onto her shoulders as the hobgoblin slowly began to scale the trunk. “It’s submission, isn’t it?”

Cerilla grunted as she slowly got going. “The feeling in your head or what I expect from you?”   
“Those are both submission, I know that.” Brinia clung to Cerilla just as hard as she clung to the end of her leash, like a lifeline keeping her tethered to reality. “I mean the way you opened the door to Master’s chamber?”

“Gah, are you still on that?” Despite being adorned in heavy metal armor, Cerilla was rather mobile, Brinia had to chalk that up to the hobgoblin’s pure athletic prowess. “It’s a parlor trick at best, don’t get too hung up on it.” 

“But I need to know how you did it.”

“Not yet, you don’t.”

“But how am I ever going to get to where you are unless I can figure it out?”

“That’s what I’m trying to teach you, toots.”

“Then teach me-”

“I’m teaching you patience.” Cerilla was a natural acrobat, her ability to move even while encumbered by both her armor and another woman on her back was actually quite impressive. “I’ve been around for a while so I’ve seen your type, hell I was your type. I only showed you that door trick to get your fuzzy little brain firing.”

“I don’t under-”

“I know you don’t understand, that’s the point. Stop talking.”

Brinia did as she was told. She once again felt like a child being mocked in the courtyard after school, and she supposed that was only fair, this was essentially her being schooled. Cerilla was the teacher and she was the student, shutting up and listening to the teacher speak. 

“Step one, shut the fuck up and do as you’re told. I showed you that little parlor trick mostly because I needed outta the chamber, but I also did it just to show you that you’re doing just about everything wrong.” 

Brinia wanted to let go of Cerilla’s shoulders and fall back to the ground right then and there, but she wouldn’t, she couldn’t. Not only were they already so high up that hitting the ground below would cause more pain than it was worth, but Brinia also needed to hear whatever Cerilla was trying to say.

“You’re the type of person with strong convictions. Once you want something, you put all of your effort into achieving that something. I saw that last night when you had that epiphany… you didn’t want to have sex with us, but all of a sudden the only thing in the world was proving yourself.” 

There was a gap between the tightly packed trees, it was small, but it was just big enough for the two girls to squeeze through without making too much sound. 

“The point is, slavery doesn’t mean misery. I can read you like a book, and so can she… if you really want to earn our love, stop trying to think twenty steps ahead, and think about where you are now.” 

Brinia swallowed nervously, grabbing onto the trunk of the nearest tree as Cerilla forced her to dismount, beginning the descent back down the other side of the forest wall. 

“You’re not in charge anymore Alistora. You don’t make the big decisions, and you don’t really make the little decisions either.” Cerilla leapt to the courtyard below, landing on her feet inside of the barrier. “You live in a different world now, dryad. One where you aren’t really yourself anymore.”

“I’m a part of her…” Suddenly it clicked for Brinia, and everything that Cerilla was saying finally made sense. “You lied to me.”

“Of course I lied to you. Straight to your face, I might add.” Cerilla waited for Brinia to jump down, landing next to her on the ground. “But not just to trick and mislead and bully you, but to get you to open up your eyes to a different worldview.” 

_ Of course Eia gave you access to the door, that’s not how magic works.  _ Brinia felt like an idiot for falling for such an obvious trick in the first place. 

“But for the last few hours, all you’ve been able to think about is one thing~”

“Making Eia happy…” 

“See what I did there?” Brinia felt the leash being pulled from her hands as Cerilla grabbed a hold of it and tugged gently. “You aren’t the first of your sisters to fall for that, but you are honestly probably going to be the last~”

Cerilla was an enigma to the dryad, but she could appreciate what she was trying to do for her. She had greatly underestimated the hobgoblin’s intelligence. Of course she knew that the former general was extremely cunning and tactical, but she didn’t expect her to be so emotionally thoughtful as well, she was as skilled with her words as she supposedly skilled with the blade, even if the two of them had never clashed in battle. 

It was almost poetic. Opening the door was just a metaphor for gaining the wendigo’s love and trust, and the key to getting there was through submission. 

“The sword, soldier. We’re here to retrieve the sword.” Cerilla pushed the leash back into Brinia’s chest, snapping her fingers to snap the dryad back to attention. 

Brinia took a deep breath, wrapping the leash around her left arm and pointing across the courtyard towards the clearing. “The cabin is that way, away from the courtyard and a little bit into the clearing, away from town proper.” 

Brinia realized why Cerilla didn’t wear a mask to hide her face. The hobgoblin didn’t need a mask, she didn’t want to hide her identity from her enemies, she was an open book, and keeping her view clear from obstructions helped her read her opponents easier, letting her cut to the core of who they are. 

↞✶↠

“That’s the one.” Brinia paused, trying to make sure no one was around to see them, it was getting later into the morning, and it was growing increasingly likely for the pair to be noticed, assuming they hadn’t been noticed already. 

“There’s someone in there.” Cerilla could tell from just a cursory glance at the home that there was almost certainly someone inside, despite Brinia assuming the exact opposite.

“What makes you think that?” There was no light coming from inside, the fireplace wasn’t lit, and there was no noise to indicate that the villa was occupied. 

“Don’t question your superior’s intuition, slave.” Cerilla smirked, taunting her. She was just rubbing it into Brinia’s face at this point, but she herself also wouldn’t be able to tell if it weren’t for the single most minute detail. “Did someone live here with you?”

_ Eia already knows.  _ Brinia gritted her teeth and sighed. “You aren’t the only mother here…”

Cerilla’s smug expression faded as she turned back to the door, beginning to open it. “As long as she doesn’t hurt us, I won’t have to hurt her.”

_ Nothing.  _ Just as Brinia had expected, the cottage seemed completely empty. They walked in, quickly finding… nothing. There were no signs that Fennecca was here, nor was there evidence that she had been here this morning, and was simply out at the moment. In fact, the home seemed almost ransacked, every single valuable and useful item had already been taken. Fennecca had moved, and she had taken everything she could bring with her, including the sword. 

“Montemaster…” It meant ‘My Master’s Blessing’ and Brinia really had hoped it would be here, not only so that she could make it up to Arleena for what she had done, but also so that she herself could receive her master’s blessing. “It’s gone… just like all of my other weapons, and anyone who might have been here.”

“You’re sure of it?” Cerilla was now tapping her foot impatiently, annoyed that her intuition had seemingly been wrong.  _ Maybe I’m losing my instincts after all. _

“There’s a few daggers, but they are rough and worn down, all of the sharpened ones have been taken, including a couple of my kitchen knives.” Brinia opened the drawer, noting that most of her cooking equipment had been taken as well. “Not all of them though~”

“Looks like they took the prod for the fireplace too.” Cerilla was still on edge, wanting to make sure that there was nobody here with them after all. “Who exactly is this kid? Please tell me we don’t have another dryad running around to deal with.”

“She’s strong, but that’s because she’s a warrior, not because she came from my loins.” Brinia moved back into the situation room, scouring the place for weapons as she waited for her commander to call off the search. “She may be my little flower, but she’s not the kind of person who’ll just let you mow her down.”

“If she’s not a dryad, then what is she?” Cerilla continued to wander, still searching for that fabled third person in the room, hiding and waiting to pounce on them. 

“She’s a minx, I’ve raised her since she was around four years old. Since her…” Brinia stopped, coming to a sudden realization that she hadn’t really considered until just now. “Since her parents died… when the village of petals was raided…”

“Makes sense…” Cerilla examined the couch, noting that there were just a couple of loose clumps of fur, but even she had to admit that those could have been there for weeks. “I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t still a little bit proud of that raid~”

“She’s a warrior… she has to be.” This must have been how Eia and Tishula felt, knowing that the terrible thing Brinia did to Tishula had brought the two women together in the first place. But now it was turned on its head, and it was now Brinia who was realizing that Fennecca wouldn’t even be her daughter if it weren’t for what the hobgoblins did to her home, if it wasn’t for Cerilla. 

_ But why take the iron for the fireplace?  _ Cerilla took a closer look at the fireplace. She hadn’t taken the firewood, or any of the other kindling supplies. It didn’t make sense to take the iron with her, especially if she left behind perfectly usable, if slightly blunt daggers. She hadn’t even cleaned out the fireplace, the whole cabin smelled like ashes. “How often do you clean out the fireplace?” 

“Only when necessary, why?” Brinia glanced over at Cerilla, noticing the hobgoblin sniffing the air for something. She sniffed the air as well, intimately familiar with the musk that the coyote woman usually emanated, but the only thing she could really smell was the scent of ashes. “If she was here, I’d be able to smell her…”

“That just raises more concerns… because if she’s not here, then who is?” Cerilla turned her attention up to the ceiling to make sure that she hadn’t missed something. 

“What makes you think that someone is here?” Brinia stepped back into the sitting room, arching her neck to look up where Cerilla was looking. 

“I’ve known my fair share of annoying little birds, and more than a few of them could turn invisible.” Cerilla snapped her fingers and pointed up at one of the large wooden beams that was crucial to providing support for the roof, now cracked and bent. “But none heavy enough to visibly weigh the roof down.”

Only Cerilla would be either paranoid or clever enough to notice that something was weighing the roof down ever so slightly just from seeing the exterior of the house, but that beam most certainly wasn’t that way when she last saw it, and no bird that Brinia knew was heavy enough to cave the roof in just by sitting on it.  _ Annoying little bird… _

“Duck, now-” It took Brinia a moment to realize that Cerilla wasn’t talking about the type of bird, but thankfully for her the buzzing in her brain that encouraged her to follow orders kicked in as soon as she realized that the hobgoblin was issuing a command. 

**_Thud_ ** _. _

Just in time for her to duck out of the way of a kitchen knife soaring directly into the wall behind her. 

Brinia jumped back to her feet as soon as she could, but by the time she was no longer prone Cerilla already had the length of the fireplace iron pressed to her throat, holding her in a chokehold, pulling her into the chest of the woman behind her. 

“You have a lot of nerves showing your fang filled face around here again, tyrant.” 

Cerilla growled under her breath, feeling the other woman pulling the iron tight against her throat. “Nice to see you again too, weeping angel~”

“Speak again and you’ll be the one weeping, hobgoblin.”

“Or what, Gargoyle, you’ll bite my tongue off?”

“Without hesitation-”

“Cerilla!!” Brinia gasped, watching the lady protector drop down from inside of the chimney, and make her sneak attack on the hobgoblin intruder. Curiously, it wasn’t Zawdra’s name that Brinia called out, but Cerilla’s.

_ What am I supposed to do here… _

Brinia froze in shocked silence, almost like a statue. Cerilla was now her den mother, and she had a responsibility to follow her, a desire to submit to her, but Zawdra was not only her friend, but the one person left in this village who could even possibly put up a fight against a hobgoblin attack. 

“Now I had better get a damn good explanation before I slit your throat.” Zawdra quickly pulled out yet another of Brinia’s missing kitchen knives, dropping the fireplace iron to the floor at her feet and pressing the blade against Cerilla’s throat. “The wendigo was one thing, Alistora… but this is too far and you know it, I can’t possibly let you walk away if you’re working for the hobgoblin’s now.” 

“Don’t answer her,  _ soldier _ .” Cerilla stopped Brinia before she could speak, still calm even while she had a knife to her throat. “Now be a good girl and get down on your knees for me.”

_ But you’ll die if I don’t do anything. _ Brinia caught the words in her throat before they made it to her lips, and for once, thanks in large part to the cloud of fog in her brain, she let the decision be made for her. She dropped to her knees in place, not saying a word. 

“Some guardian you are…” Zawdra scoffed, shaking her head at the dryad in complete disbelief. Brinia wanted to say something, anything at all, but she couldn’t. Cerilla commands, and Brinia follows. 

Zawdra pulled the blade away for just a moment before sending it back towards Cerilla’s throat, but that single moment was just enough time for Cerilla. The hobgoblin jerked her neck, letting the blade contact with the metal collar around her neck, preventing the gargoyle from driving the knife into her throat. 

Having dropped the iron, Zawdra’s only leverage had been the single blade pressed up against the hobgoblin’s throat, ready to slice her open if she tried to move. But now the gargoyle had neither the ability to wrangle Cerilla back into a chokehold, nor the security of a knife pressed to her throat. 

Cerilla had no weapon, not because she had only planned on defending herself, but because she was a highly skilled hand to hand combatant. She easily grabbed Zawdra by the wrist and pulled her arm away from her throat, pointing the knife away from either woman, gripping her other hand it much the same way, preventing her from retrieving another weapon.

Zawdra had no intentions of being a good girl for the hobgoblin, Cerilla was forced to disarm her personally, squeezing her wrist and forcing her to drop the knife onto the floor below. Cerilla held the gargoyle by both wrists, looking over at the kneeling dryad and whistling for her. “Come pick up the weapons before Miss Nightingale hurts somebody, and then help me tie her up… we have a show to put on~”

Brinia did as she was told, and with a little bit of Zawdra’s cooperation, the pair of brides had the gargoyle forcibly disarmed and bound, sitting in the fireplace with her arms and wings tied behind her back. “I’m sorry about this, Zawdra…”

Zawdra didn’t even make eye contact with the dryad. “And here I thought you were property of the wendigo…”

“Make no mistake, little bird, she still is… I’m just borrowing her for today~” Cerilla finished removing her armor before having a seat on the floor, sitting atop of what used to be Brinia’s bed. It was a comfy little arrangement, with no actual frame for it. Cerilla gently patted the floor next to her with her hand. “Come here, Brinia.”

Brinia did so, crawling to the hobgoblin’s side. It was painful for her to be humiliated like this, especially in front of her friend, but she didn’t really have a choice. 

As she settled in next to Cerilla, Brinia turned around to face Zawdra again, noting the flustered look on her face just watching the two of them. “My apologies, Najistrae… I didn’t realize you had… changed allegiance.”

“It was an honest mistake, everyone makes them~” Cerilla smirked at Brinia, stabbing the end of the dryad’s leash into the floor with the very same kitchen knife that Nightingale had thrown at her. “Now let’s just hope for the sake of the rest of your villagers that you can be a good girl and sit still while I do my work~” 

“No…” Brinia’s chest ached as she watched Cerilla rise. “Please…”

“It’s for her own good~” Cerilla grinned at the gargoyle. “Now be a good girl and sit still, this’ll be quick.”

Brinia bit her bottom lip and turned away, unable to watch whatever was about to happen. “Yes, Mother…”

“Good girl~” Cerilla turned to Zawdra, iron in hand. “Someone needs to learn not to mess with my sisters~”

Zawdra watched the hobgoblin stand, leaving Brinia where she was as she walked over to the fireplace. “What do you plan on doing with me, Najistrae?” 

Cerilla held the iron to Zawdra’s throat, gently lifting her chin up to face her. “Whatever I want to you, my little bird~”

↞✶↠

It was a painful thing for Brinia to have to watch. 

It was better than having to watch her be killed, but it still didn’t sit right with her.

At the end of the day, hobgoblins were hobgoblins, even if they were slaves.

They were back at the den now, inside of Cerilla’s private chamber. 

“Master would have done a lot worse to her if she managed to kill either of us.”

“But that doesn’t mean you had to rape her…” Brinia averted her gaze, trying not to look up at the hobgoblin gripping the end of her leash above her. “How is it okay for you to go behind Eia’s back and do things like that?”

“Because I’m the den mother~” Cerilla was seated in one of the seats of her private chamber, playing with the dryad’s leash as she kneeled on the floor beside her feet. 

“And that gives you the right to rape villagers?” Brinia wasn’t angry, just horribly distraught. Having to sit there and watch that happen to one of her villagers was exactly the kind of thing she was hoping to avoid. 

“It gives me the responsibility to protect my sisters.” Cerilla leaned towards Brinia and gently began to stroke her hair. “Especially when a living statue tries throwing knives at their heads~”

“Don’t you dare try to tell me that you did it to protect me…” Brinia’s voice cracked as she spoke. “How would Eia react if I did the same thing to you that you did to Zawdra…”

“Eia doesn’t have to know…” Brinia felt her leash quickly go slack as Cerilla dropped the end of it into the dryad’s lap, letting it fall out of her hand as she reached towards Brinia’s collar and deliberately began to untie the end connected to her. 

“What are you doing?” Brinia looked up at Cerilla in confusion, watching the hobgoblin detach the lead from the dryad’s collar… before beginning to tie the end to her own collar.

“Seeing what you’re made of~” Cerilla winked, licking her lips as she finished tying the leash to her collar. “Eia doesn’t have to know~”

Brinia picked up the other end of the leash, which had spent most of the day wrapped around her arm. “I don’t understand…” 

“Tishula was angry at you for hurting Arleena, so she punished you…” Cerilla smirked, watching the dryad tighten her grip on the lead. “Now, you’re angry at me for hurting Zawdra…”

“You want me to punish you?”

“I’m giving you the chance to… It’s not as easy as it looks, I promise you~” 

“Cerilla, I don’t want to-”

“You just watched me rape your friend… I was the one who let Zaikana torment your daughter, and apparently I was the one that killed your daughter’s family in the first place, so… let me have it.”

“...What do you hope to accomplish from this?”

“Like I said, I want a challenge… it’s no fun for me at all if you can’t stand up to me~”

“You want me to  _ top _ you?”

“I want you to try, and it’s still my turn with you after all… hopefully while you’re at it, you’ll get all of that pent up frustration and anger out, that way you’re nice and submissive and won’t get in trouble with the next girl in line.” Cerilla gave Brinia an eager smile and a wink, reaching down and gently placing her finger on the still glowing red glyph, watching as it slowly faded away. “Eia doesn’t have to know~”

“Eia doesn’t have to know…” Brinia looked up at Cerilla and grinded her teeth, thinking it over for a few moments, letting her trance slowly fade away before reluctantly returning the hobgoblin’s smile, violently yanking on Cerilla’s leash. “On the floor, hobgoblin.”

“Yes, Ma’am~”

The last thing Brinia had expected was to find herself in this position. Yet here she was, sitting in a war room with a leash in hand and a hobgoblin at her feet attached to the other end, and not just any hobgoblin. 

_ A Najistrae _ .   
Of course she was a Najistrae. It had all but been confirmed to her by this point. The kingdom of Najistaire was an empire after all, and what was an empire without an emperor. 

Najistaire wasn’t just any empire however, it was a military empire. Akziel Najistrae was not only the empress of Najistaire, but she was also the highest ranking member of its military. That’s how the kingdom chose its emperor, Najistrae was the name of the royal family, but it was less of a family by blood than it was a title. 

When one emperor dies, rule is transferred to one of their children, but the emperor’s children were almost always adopted. They earned their position in the royal family through dedication, hard work, and military prowess. The royal children were adopted by the emperor for their service, for earning their high ranking position in the royal army. 

Cerilla wasn’t just a general, she was a daughter of the empress, she was a princess. 

“I’ve waited so long to punish a Najistrae…”

“Don’t go easy on me~”

Brinia slammed her foot into the side of Cerilla’s head as hard as she could, sending the hobgoblin reeling. Cerilla grunted under her breath, the empty stub in her mouth where Eia had removed her latest fang was now bleeding again. “Nice shot~”

Brinia gritted her teeth, slamming her heel down on the back of Cerilla’s head and shoving her head to the floor beneath her. “Shut up.”

Brinia took her foot off of the hobgoblin's head, watching the other girl lift her head back up off of the ground. Cerilla was clearly receptive to whatever Brinia was telling her, biting down on her lip and keeping her mouth closed, not saying anything at all. 

“You deserve this… For everything that you’re people have done...” Brinia pulled on the leash, yanking Cerilla back to her knees. 

Cerilla silently looked up at the dryad above her, nodding her head slightly, a small trickle of blood on her bottom lip. Brinia winced looking at it, gently rubbing her mouth where Tishula had pulled her tooth out just the previous night. “How can you just sit there and take this…” 

Cerilla silently opened her mouth to show Brinia her teeth. Hobgoblin’s had twelve very sharp canine fangs where humans only had four, yet despite this Cerilla only had six. She had had more of her fangs pulled out than most creatures even had to begin with, and most all of them had been replaced with fake teeth to fill in the gaps, where there were once fangs were now harmless little nubs, except for one spot, which was now bleeding. “How can you let her do that to you…”

Cerilla smiled. She didn’t grin, she didn’t smirk, she just smiled. “Because I love her~” 

Brinia choked, hearing the words ring in her ears. Before she knew it, she quickly found herself on the floor beneath her, pushing Cerilla onto her back, grinning down at her from above. She tightened her grip on the hobgoblin’s leash, pressing her lips into Cerilla’s. “I said shut up.”

Cerilla began to blush, but not quite as bright as the charm on her collar began to glow red, much like the glyph on Brinia’s collarbone had been glowing all day. Her whole demeanor seemed to shift in an instant, and It didn’t take very long at all for Brinia to realize why, Cerilla was now in a trance, much like the one that Brinia had been in while the red glyph on her chest was glowing, keeping her submissive all day. 

“So this is how Master keeps a hobgoblin in line…”

Cerilla, still doing her best to shut up and stay shut up, nodded.

Brinia tilted Cerilla’s head to the side and then gently placed a kiss on her cheek, right where her missing tooth was, and sure enough, it quickly stopped bleeding. 

Cerilla sat up and gently rubbed her cheek, watching Brinia lean back against the sofa behind her, holding the hem of her dress up. “Since I didn’t get to have any fun with you last night~”

Cerilla quickly and eagerly lunged forward, grinning excitedly at Brinia before finding her way under the dryad’s skirt, honing in on her sugary sweet cunt. 

It didn’t take her very long at all to bring the dryad to a finish, Brinia didn’t have the kind of stamina that Cerilla was used to seeing from her master, especially when she wasn’t under the hypnotic influence of her magical charm. 

↞✶↠

“So…” Cerilla smirked, the red glow of her collar fading away. “Looks like you’ve only got six sisters left to go, hope that goes well for you~”

“Don’t remind me.” Brinia pulled her knees to her chest, curling up on one of the den mother’s sofas. “Thank you for being so good to me today…”

“Tch.” Cerilla unclipped the leash from her collar and tossed it back into Brinia’s lap. “You were the one who decided to be a good girl for me~”

“Do you think-” Brinia swallowed nervously, curling the leash around her arm as a security blanket. “Do you think the villagers are going to be safe… Am I going to make it?”

“You’re going to be fine…” Cerilla sat down on the sofa behind Brinia, gently rubbing the dryad’s shoulders. “Zawdra is going to be fine, and so is your daughter… so long as you behave… Eia is a woman of her word~”

Brinia sighed, leaning back into the hobgoblin woman behind her “Thank you…”

Cerilla smiled, reaching over the dryad’s shoulders and grabbing the leash from her lap, pulling towards Brinia’s throat and gently reattaching it to her collar. “Mama’s got you.”

Brinia smiled, the other end still wrapped around her arm. “I thought you hated me, what happened?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” Cerilla smirked, taking the dryad’s leafy hair into her hands and beginning to run her fingers through it. “Eia told me to give you a chance~”

“Of course she did…” Brinia sighed, tilting her head back and looking up at the ceiling of the chamber. 

Cerilla did the same, letting the dryad lean back against her as she began to braid her viney hair. “Would you believe me if I said that she spoke to Zaikana too?” 

Brinia smiled at the thought. “Is that why she seemed to lighten up?” 

“Who else is gonna put her in her place?” Cerilla tied Brinia’s hair off into a braid before leaning back into the arm of the sofa. “Of course, don’t tell Zaikana about this.”

Brinia smiled and leaned back. “Nobody needs to know~” 

Cerilla nodded and let Brinia lean into her chest for a few moments before she quickly sat up, growling under her breath. “Nobody except our spying little house bird, apparently.” 

Brinia could hear a quiet gasp from the ceiling above, followed by the flapping of wings as Cerilla’s little intruder made their way out of the chamber.

“Should we be concerned?” Brinia was quick to rise, unsure of whether she should be following the invisible songbird. 

Cerilla grabbed Brinia by the collar and pulled her in for a kiss, smirking at her. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll hunt them down, you go play with your sisters~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truth be told, I don't actually like this chapter all too well.  
> I think a chapter of "Cerilla plays mindgames on Brinia" turned out to be a lot more confusing than it was really worth.


	10. Song of the Lovebirds

_Maybe I should go find Eia._

Brinia pushed open the doors into the grand chamber, stepping back into the den. It was a weird position for her to be in, for the first time since she’d gotten here she really didn’t know what to do. 

Her den mother gave her access to many of the doors in the den. Cerilla was a really difficult woman to understand, but through her Brinia now understood things a little bit better than she had before. Eia’s happiness was what was important, not just for her own sake but for the sake of those that she loved. She still couldn’t be sure of the hobgoblin’s exact circumstances, but if General Cerilla Najistrae, princess of the hobgoblin empire, could throw away where she came from and earn her master’s love through submission, then so could Brinia. 

Brinia held a lot of anger towards both the wendigo and her brides, and getting a chance to take a shot at the hobgoblin really had made her feel better towards the girl. If that’s what it was going to take for the rest of Eia’s brides to embrace their new sister, then Brinia was going to let each of them take a shot at her, just like Cerilla had. _Submission, that’s what she wants, so that’s what she’ll get._

_Brown, grey, red, orange, yellow, cyan, blue, purple, pink._

She had started with a total of nine glowing glyphs along her collarbone, arranged in a sort of chromatic order reflecting the glyphs of each of Eia’s brides, excluding Brinia’s own green glyph.

_Brown, grey, yellow, cyan, blue, pink. Maybe I should try and get rid of some more of these instead._

“The red one was Cerilla, the purple one was Tishula, and Zaikana didn’t get a turn… So who does that leave?” Brinia ran her own index finger over each of the empty spots where the glyphs had since faded away, trying to figure out who exactly was left. 

“Izona, Noriza, and Arleena… who else is there?” Despite being able to see which glyphs are left, Brinia struggled to remember who all there was that hadn’t had their own chance alone with her, likely because of exactly that, they hadn’t had time alone to get acquainted. 

But then something magical happened. 

_Ah-ahhh~♫ Ah-ahhh~♫ Mm-mm a-a-a-ahh~♫ Ooo-ooh~♫ Ah-ahhh~♫ Mm-mm a-a-a-ahh~♫_

Singing, somebody was singing right here in the den. There were no words to it, only a voice. Perfectly simple and pure, a true siren’s call. 

_Marima..._

Brinia knew Marima, yet she didn’t know Marima all the while. Everyone knew her, yet no one really did. She could still see it in her head, the empty well that once was hers. 

She could remember clearer than day the sights and the sounds of all who would gather around that well to listen to her serenade, when the gem of the flowing meadows would sing a song for all to hear, when all would listen to Lionheart’s lament. 

Marima was beloved by all, yet loved by none.

_Mm-mm~♫ Mmm-mm~♫ Mm-mm a-a-a-ahh~♫ Ooo-ooh~♫ Ah-ahhh~♫ Mm-mm a-a-a-ahh~♫_

There was no mistake, that was Marima’s voice. But the song it sung was no lament, it was a serenade. 

_A love song._

Brinia pressed her ear to the door, listening to what she heard from the other side. Singing, splashing, the sounds of the siren’s call. She took a deep breath, and then she opened the door. 

The circular chamber was large, likely larger than the entry chamber if it weren’t for the fact that both the grand chamber and the hosting chamber cut into it. It wasn’t totally dark, just dim, and the only notable feature was how that dim candlelight that illuminated the chamber seemed to glisten on the surface of the water. 

The whole chamber was built around one thing, a large circular pool of water directly in the center of the room, glistening in the light. 

“I’m sorry, I thought I recognized that voice…” Brinia looked around the room, but she only saw one other person inside, and it wasn’t who she expected. “I don’t remember your name, I’m sorry.”

“Demma~” She smiled, lifting one hand and waving it at the dryad, her two legs submerged in the water as she sat on the edge completely naked, her long straight black hair just barely covering her breasts as she sat there.

 _Wait, two legs?_ Brinia recognized the woman, Demma, the sphinx woman from just the previous day. But instead of the four feline paws and long catlike body she had seen her with the first time, Demma now had a seemingly ordinary human body, with two human hands and feet, kicking happily in the water below. 

“Master’s charm.” Demma smiled, swiping her black straight hair out of the way and gesturing towards the charm affixed to the ring of her collar. A symbol of a lion’s head, its mane in the shape of the sun, dazzling and pure. “It allows me to shift into a more human form while I’m in the den, since I know you’re wondering.”

“That makes sense… I’m Brinia, by the way. I think we’ve met before.” Brinia stepped in, smiling at the friendly woman as she gently closed the door behind her. _I definitely remember seeing her at the village as well, I just can’t remember her name._

“I remember, we met in Thorn a few years ago. I actually didn’t have a name… Demma was just a name given to me by Master so that she had something to call me… So, that’s my name now~” Demma blushed, continuing to gently kick her feet, occasionally glancing down at the water. 

That must have been why she had never learned the sphinx’s name, sphinx’s were always known to be extremely powerful creatures, it’s no wonder that she never had a name, Eia had to give her one. _Kind of like naming a child…_

“It was like naming a pet for her~” Demma blushed, her eyes now fixed on the ripples of the water below, directly at her feet. “I’m more of a housecat or a pony than a real lion~”

 _Lionheart and her lion, huh?_ Brinia was too shy to make conversation with the other woman, embarrassed about barging in on her naked thinking that it was Marima’s voice that she was hearing. She remembered how the two of them had been looking at each other, it was like Marima and Demma were in love. _Maybe Marima finally has someone who truly loves her…_

“I love her more than life itself~” Demma blushed, smiling down at the water beneath her. It took Brinia a moment to realize that Demma wasn’t talking about Eia like the conversation would imply, despite Brinia not having brought up the mermaid just yet. 

_She’s talking about Marima…_

“Of course I’m talking about Marima~” Demma turned her head back to face Brinia, smiling coyly at her. “That’s who you came in here to see, isn’t it?”

“How did you know-” Brinia stopped, her eyes growing wide at the realization. “You’re reading my thoughts.”

“Just a little bit~” Demma turned her head back down to the water below, the tips of her hair dangling into the water, concealing her face from view ever so slightly. “It’s okay sweetie, I don’t think she’s going to judge us~”

Brinia watched the water begin to ripple, as right there between Demma’s legs, emerged another woman, hiding her face from view as she cowered into the woman above her. 

“W-was I singing too loud?”

“It was perfect actually.” Brinia smiled, stepping away from the door and walking to the edge of the pool opposite the two women, trying to get a better look at them both. “As beautiful as always~”

There stood Marima Lionheart, her back turned to the world around her as she tread water, hiding herself between the legs of the much larger woman, hoping and longing for her protection. “H-hi Brinia…” 

“Hi Marima…” For just this once, Brinia felt happy to see one of Eia’s brides. She felt bad for what she had let happen to her, but for now she was just overcome with joy that the poor girl she had assumed long since dead, was still alive. “I thought I heard your voice~”

Marima was defensive, shy, unable to bring herself to face the dryad directly. Brinia watched as the mermaid’s tail fin slowly drifted upwards out of the pool, the water cascading off of it like a waterfall before she brought it back down. 

Demma reached her hand down behind Marima, bringing the mermaid’s head in towards her, letting her stay between her legs, pressing her face into her hips. “I think Marima needs a little bit to herself… let’s get you to your happy place~”

Without saying another word or singing another note, Marima pressed her lips into Demma’s labia, and without hesitation or argument, she began to make love to the humanoid sphinx with her mouth. It was clear that Marima was immediately overtaken by her love for the other woman, and without concern for who was watching her, she put herself to Demma’s slit, completely unashamed of herself or what it looked like. 

That was it. Brinia had seen a lot from just her few days here.

Each of these women were unique, and each of them clearly had different feelings towards one another, their relationships were all unique, but now Brinia had seen it all. Everything from the bad to the good, all the way to the truly wonderful. 

The way that Zaikana seemed to violently oppose the harpy woman was worse than even how most of Eia’s brides seemed to treat Brinia when she first arrived, but everything slowly got better from there. 

Izona bickered with Cerilla just as fiercely as she had bickered with Zaikana, but the two of them clearly felt something for one another, and even Zaikana and Izona clearly had some strong romantic and sexual bonds between them when they weren’t fighting. 

Arleena very clearly didn’t hold herself in high esteem, but she also didn’t like the dryad, and neither did Tishula or Zaikana. But Zaikana and Tishula both seemed to love and care for Arleena where the wraith woman couldn’t quite come to love herself, even if they were both like slightly overbearing parents to the poor girl. 

Brinia had seen nothing at all to indicate that any of Eia’s brides didn’t love the wendigo, and Eia clearly loved them all in return. From Eia happily rewarding Noriza’s loyalty for carrying so many of her kits, to the way that Eia made love to the den mother, all the way to the clearly very unique relationship between Eia and Izona. 

But this, this was the cherry on top. Even after all that she’d seen, there was nothing quite like the love between Demma and Marima. She wasn’t sure whether she had ever seen a love more pure than the one in front of her. 

Brinia looked down and imagined the glowing glyphs on her collarbone, and began to assign names to each and every one of her sisters. First the farthest glyph towards her right shoulder, then the farthest glyph towards her left shoulder, alternating back and forth, working her way towards the middle. 

_Demma… Marima… Arleena… Tishula… Cerilla… Izona… Zaikana… Noriza…_

Brinia’s finger landed on the glowing yellow glyph directly in the center, one which was only faintly visible against the dryad’s yellowy green skin, one that somehow managed to blend in and fade into the background despite being at the very center of all of them. _I’m so close… Who am I missing?_

“Valonda.” Demma smiled, eager to help out. “That one is Valonda’s.”

“Valonda?” Brinia looked up at her before looking down at the glyph again, almost completely invisible against her skin. “Who’s Valonda?”

Brinia turned back to Demma, watching her turn towards a small bag on the floor next to her, retrieving a small pocket mirror and holding it out in front of her. “Valonda-” 

Demma stopped, turning her attention down to Marima, who just for a moment stopped and shook her head at the sphinx woman. “N-no last name… j-just like you…”

“One day it’ll respond to Demma Lionheart.” Brinia couldn’t tell why, but Demma frowned, putting the small hand mirror onto the ground. “I’m sure of it~”

Everything was silent for just a moment, and before Marima could even return to making love between Demma’s thighs, the door began to open.

“Master~” Demma’s eyes lit up, and then so did Marima’s as she pulled her head away from the other woman to look over at the doorway. “M-Master!!”

Eia stepped inside, her antlers very nearly scraping the top of the door frame as she entered, eagerly smiling at the pair of girls at the edge of the water. “Hello lovebirds~”

Brinia swallowed nervously, looking up at the wendigo archfey. “Master…”

“Alistora, dearest.” Eia tilted her head, her expression very clearly caught off guard, not expecting Brinia to be here. In moments of pure surprise for Eia, Brinia could see the usual smug and overpowering expression soften to make way for something friendlier. Except it wasn’t just the expression on Eia’s face that made her look friendlier than normal, the ferocious wendigo’s eyelashes glowed in the light as she blinked, Eia had clearly just got done applying makeup. “I didn’t even realize you were here, darling~”

Eia smiled unassumingly, stepping towards the water aways, but only getting about halfway towards the pair of brides before they came to her. She chuckled under her breath, sitting down at the edge of the water much like Demma had been doing, watching Marima assume the exact same position between the wendigo’s legs that she had with Demma, the latter down laying on her belly, resting her hands on Eia’s thigh like a housecat, waiting for her master to pet her. “Careful with the makeup girls, Noriza and I just got done-”

“You said you were going to let me do your makeup!!” Marima pouted, looking up at Eia from below. “I could give you something waterproof~!!”

“If I wore something waterproof, it would never come off, princess~” Eia smiled at the fish lady, but before she could say anything else, Demma interrupted. 

“You can use magic, and you know it, Master.” Demma was now pouting on Marima’s behalf.

“I’m sorry Demma darling, I don’t remember giving you permission to speak, let alone to read my mind~” Eia smirked devilishly, slipping her left pinky into Demma’s mouth to silence her, watching the feline woman whimper at her, lowering her head in defeat. Eia turned back to the now cowering Marima, smiling at her tenderly. “Happy place, princess… I know you want to~”

It was crazy how fast Eia turned the pair of lover’s dynamic onto its head. Marima was now just as eagerly sucking the wendigo’s cunt as she was with the sphinx woman just moments prior. The sphinx woman in question was now lying prone on her belly at the wendigo’s side, obediently letting herself be subjected to the treatment one would expect from a literal housecat, despite having morphed to look like a human. Eia’s hands now petting her behind her head, having pulled her finger out of the girl’s mouth. 

“Is something the matter, Alistora?” Eia tilted her head, looking over at the dryad with the softest expression on her face she could possibly make, yet still looking confident and dominant. “If you’re going to bathe, then bathe. Otherwise I expect you to go find something productive to do, make yourself useful, don’t just stand around.”

“Right, sorry.” Brinia backed away from the water, beginning to turn towards the door before stopping to think. “May I bathe?”

“You may, but no more than once a day if you must.” Eia’s face turned stern. “And only once you’ve completed your tasks… and fulfilled all of your duties.”

“I-” Brinia paused, looking down at Eia’s reflection in the water. “What **are** my duties… Ma’am?”

“Good question, I thought you were with **Cerilla** today.” Eia shifted slightly, picking the mirror up off of the floor. Both girls beside her very briefly went wide eyed as they looked over at each other, but only for a moment before Eia resumed, now speaking into an open mirror, admiring her own reflection. “Where is Cerilla, anyways?”

“Chasing some sort of invisible spy bird, I think-” Brinia bit her lip nervously, trying not to make eye contact with the wendigo. “She said she was done with me for today.”

“Is that so…” Eia smirked, closing the mirror and turning her gaze towards Brinia. “A spy, you say?” 

“From the sounds of it, yes…” 

“Well, that’s not good at all… at least not for Cerilla~” 

Eia paused, setting the mirror down on the floor next to her before bringing her left hand to her lips and gently whistling into one of her rings. That was what she did when she wanted to summon one of her brides. Brinia couldn’t be sure who she summoned, she didn’t see exactly which ring it was, so she just assumed it was Cerilla. 

“Oh, I’m interrupting you two aren’t I?” Eia turned back to her two loyal pets, cooing at them both. “You two are always so quick to let me do that~”

“We spend more than enough time together, Master-” Marima shook her head up at the wendigo, desperately clinging to the larger woman. 

“Let us put you first, Master~” Demma pawed at the wendigo’s thighs, echoing the mermaid’s expression and sentiment. 

“No no, you only just got back yesterday morning, Demma. You two go have your fun together~” Eia shook her head, gently pushing Marima out from between her legs. “Besides, Master has a new task for you in a little bit~”

“What’s that, Master?” Demma sat back up, putting her legs in the water and watching Marima torpedo her way back to her catnip filled cunt. “I’m not going to read your mind, I swear…” 

Eia gently pet Demma’s head one last time. “Do as you’re told, I’m going to play with your sister~” 

“Do you mean me, Ma’am?” Brinia gently stepped her toes into the water before her, having completely undressed herself during the commotion. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake she had made the previous night, she was ready to give Eia whatever she wanted, and she wasn’t about to hold anything back. “Or were you waiting on Cerilla to get here?”

Eia watched intently as Brinia slowly entered the bath, spreading her legs for the dryad. “I think you know what I want, Alistora.” 

“Please, just Brinia works fine…” Brinia swallowed, pushing past the nervous lump in her throat as she looked up, her gaze meeting Eia’s. “Whatever you want to call me…”

“Very well, Brinia~” Eia smiled tenderly, staring into the dryad’s terrified eyes. “Nothing to worry about… I don’t bite my brides, unless they misbehave~”

“Then I won’t misbehave anymore.” Brinia waded along the edge of the pool, not wanting to submerge completely, a delicate little flower now adorning her green head of hair. 

“Let’s hope that you don’t~” Eia watched Brinia slowly lower herself to her knees between her large fuzzy legs, gently caressing the flower from the dryad’s hair. “Is this for me?”

“Who else would it be for?” Brinia looked up at her, biting her lip as she quickly amended her sarcastic response, trying to show more respect. “I mean… Yes, Master, it’s for you… please excuse me… I really am trying…”

Eia smiled, plucking the flower from Brinia’s hair in an instant. She was sure that the monstrous woman was going to completely shred the flower in response to Brinia’s sarcasm, but Eia instead gently placed the delicate little thing into her own hair instead. “There, now it won’t get all wet… How do I look?”

“You look…” Brinia choked on her words, looking up at the wendigo’s face. She was objectively quite pretty actually, with her full face of makeup and the flower now in her hair, even her weird ears and antlers added to the cute factor she had going on. But Brinia still couldn’t find it in her heart to compliment the creature, no matter how hard Eia hid her awful side from her. “Good…” 

“Let this be a lesson that feminine beauty doesn’t translate to submissiveness, girls.” Eia pursed her lips, winking at the pair of women to her left. “Just take Zaikana and Noriza as an example.”

The pair of girls spoke in unison, only going to show how in sync they were with one another. “Yes, Master~”

“I’m in charge.” She said it so matter of factly, leaving absolutely no room for argument. “You all belong to me.”

“Yes, Master…” The light left Brinia’s eyes as she turned her head back down, looking towards Eia’s cunt. 

“Don’t sound so glum about it, my little flower.” Eia slipped her fingers into Brinia’s hair, gently petting the top of her head. “Just because you’re a slave doesn’t mean you can’t be happy~”

Brinia nodded, remembering what Cerilla said. “Slavery doesn’t mean misery.”

“A beautiful way to put it.” Eia smiled, gently pulling Brinia towards her. “Now be a good slave~”

Brinia took a deep breath, swallowing the lump in her throat once again in preparation for the mental humiliation she was about to put herself through. This wasn’t her leaning into the mental pleasure that trance delivered her, this was her about to put her mouth to the wendigo’s waiting cunt, and pleasure her without anything at all in return. No reason, no reward, nothing. Her stomach churned at the thought of it. 

She put her lips to Eia’s vulva, struggling not to pull away and gag at first. It was nowhere near the level of gut wrenching that Tishula’s rancid cunt was, but she was also without the merciful safety blanket of magical hypnosis. 

It wasn’t too terrible after a few moments, when the heart twisting humiliation had finally set in and she’d gotten adjusted to it. Eia’s slit wasn’t sweet by any means, but it wasn’t terribly bitter either, and it was thankfully closer to a human vagina than some sort of acid dripping, blood soaked, fur covered, jagged toothed, alien atrocity. That is to say- _Salty._

 _How am I supposed to do this?_ She froze, unsure of what it was she was supposed to do. She had done tremendously with Tishula, but that was because she was desperate, she was in heat. She wanted more than anything to bring Tishula to an orgasm. But what was different about now, did she not want the same for Eia?

She looked up at Eia’s face. The wendigo didn’t exactly look upset or disappointed, but she certainly didn’t seem thrilled.

 _This is for your own good, Brinia._ She took a deep breath before gently lapping at the wendigo’s vulva, gently licking her labia. 

Eia sighed, leaning back slightly as the dryad finally started. Eia was fully aware of how difficult it was going to be for Brinia to bring her to orgasm, but she loved watching her other brides shudder in anticipation. Eia didn’t usually need to have her own parts stimulated to have an orgasm, she had another trick up her sleeve. 

Just as the pain of her brides was directly transferred to her through her magic, she experienced pleasure in much the same way. When one of her brides orgasmed, so did she. 

“I can’t… I’m sorry…” Brinia’s face flushed with shame as she gagged again, unable to bring herself to press on any further. 

She bit her tongue in anger, but not at Eia, at herself. She knew just what she needed to do to earn Eia’s trust. She needed to submit, but she literally couldn’t bring herself to do so.

The sheer humiliation and physical repulsion of it all was far too overwhelming to her. 

Eia sighed as she shook her head. She wasn’t at all surprised, but she was disappointed. Brinia on the other hand was kicking herself for not being able to push through with it. The dryad was on the verge of tears, she had never expected herself to be in this position, she hadn’t even had sex in years. 

“Are you really not attracted to women at all, Brinia?” Eia gently kicked the dryad away, watching her back up into deeper water. “I realize that you aren’t married, but I really thought you’d be so much more open to people of all sorts, being a faerie and all~”

“That’s not it, Ma’am…” Brinia bit her lip, looking away in shame. “I just…”

“You just what, Alistora?” 

“When I’m in heat is one thing… I- I can push myself to an orgasm just from stimulation, like with Cerilla, but-” Brinia choked, shaking her head in shame. “Please don’t make me say it…”

“Speak before you make a bigger fool of yourself, I don’t like you wasting my-”

“I’m demisexual.” Brinia swallowed nervously, gagging at just the word alone. “There… I said it.”

Brinia was more than willing to be forcibly brought to an orgasm, she was almost desperate for it. It was one thing to be raped by her captor or to just lean back against the sofa and let her den mother bring her to an orgasm, Brinia didn’t even have to lift a finger to do anything. But Brinia absolutely could not push herself to do this. 

As much as Brinia wanted to prove her submission by bringing Eia to an orgasm, she just couldn’t. Her heart just wasn’t there, whether she liked it or not.

“Rape me… I can make it up to you, please… rape me.” Brinia pleaded, now begging to be raped instead, desperate not to let her loved ones be murdered by the wendigo. “Take me to your chamber and rape me, please… it’ll be easy, I won’t fight, I swear.”

“Rape you?” Eia paused, sighing under her breath. “Are you trying to tell me what to do?”

“N-no!!” Brinia’s stomach churned again. “Please… I…”

“You seriously seriously disappoint me, Brinia. I want you to know that.” Eia stood, dripping water onto the floor beneath her as she held out her arm, as if letting an imaginary bird land and perch on her shoulder. “If you can’t even do this right, then I’m not sure how much hope there is for you.”

“But, I-”

“Enough, Alistora. Finish one punishment before begging for another.” Eia scoffed at the dryad, turning her attention to the invisible songbird on her arm, listening to whatever it was whisper something into her ear. 

“Please, Ma’am… I can try again…”

“And you **will** try again, and next time you’ll get it right, I have faith in that… but first you’re going to let your sisters finish you off, and **then** I will decide whether or not you’re worth my time.” Eia did her best to try and lessen the blow to the poor dryad. “Focus on the fight ahead.”

Brinia’s chest ached with humiliation and disappointment as she stared down at the water below, wanting to sink to the bottom of the pool and drown.

“And you two… make sure she doesn’t drown herself, I want her feeling loved.” Eia turned her attention to the equally disappointed Demma and Marima, watching them quickly shift their eyes to look at her. “But since Brinia is asking for it, go ahead and rape her for me~” 

↞✶↠

The three of them watched Eia and her imaginary bird friend make their way out of the room, watching the door slowly shut behind her. The two women were whispering to each other, still a little ways away from the dryad. 

How can this be a thing that’s still happening to her? How could she fail like that, straight to Eia’s face, even after she let Cerilla at her cunt of her own free will, what was it about Eia?

Marima could do it, clearly Marima could do it, considering how far she had come since living in Thorn. Marima used to be straight, there was no doubt about that, she had every young man in the village fawning over her… but here she was, eagerly and obediently eating out of both Demma and Eia’s cunts. 

“Oh, Brinia…” Demma was the first to break the silence. “Can you swim on over here?”

Brinia nodded, silently wading her way towards the other woman, before shortly realizing that Marima was once again nowhere to be seen. 

Then she felt something clammy and wet grab a hold of her ankles from beneath the water, and then suddenly she was being pulled completely under.

Marima’s wet blue skin grasped at the dryad’s ankles, beginning to pull her to the bottom of the pool, and fast. Brinia panicked, she felt terribly ashamed of herself for failing Eia like she had, but she realized that she didn’t actually want to die, especially by drowning. 

_What are you doing?!_ Brinia flailed and kicked, trying to worm her way out of the siren’s slimy paws, but failing dramatically.

She caught a glimpse of the mermaid’s charm, it was shaped almost like the moon, a gibbous moon with the shadow of the planet below cast upon it, but in this case, that shadow was shaped like a dolphin, diving into the water, and she was pulling her new sister under the water with her.

But Marima knew what she was doing, Eia had asked her and her mate **not** to drown her new sister, and she was very keen on following her Master’s instructions. The two of them had a _scene_ planned out. They were going to play with her, of course they were going to play with her, but they were going to play with each other as well.

Marima let go, making sure that her new sister resurfaced before she came back up as well. Brinia gasped, climbing up onto the side of the pool. Sure she was a plant, but she was also an animal, she still needed to breathe. Demma however, was not going to give the dryad a moment to breathe.

“I **said** come here~” Demma pounced, catching Brinia by her neck and pulling her into her lap. Before the dryad even had time to figure out what was going on, she was sitting on the side of the pool in Demma’s lap, with Marima in the water in front of her, sandwiched between the two girls.

“Come on!!!! Let me have her first, Demma~” Marima puffed up her cheeks, pouting at the sphinx woman behind Brinia.

“And whyyyyy should I do that~?” Demma snarled at her, playfully, but aggressively. 

“Because you already got to have my tongue in your cunt, it’s my turn to play now~!!!”

“You’re not even going to pleasure yourself anyways, little mermaid, we both know you’re just going to suck the dryad’s cunt instead.”

 _That explains it, they’re_ **_fighting_ ** _over me…_ It was almost sickeningly sweet to think about a pair of her sisters wanting her enough to fight amongst each other for her. 

“Of course we’re fighting over you, Brinia… you’re a catch~” Demma piped up, mewling at her newest chew toy. “Look at the little fishie I just caught, Marima~”

“I caught her first, jerk~!!” They weren’t **actually** fighting, they were just playing with each other, they were trying to cheer Brinia up. “I want to play with her first~”

“Finders keeper, cat food~” Demma stuck her bumpy catlike tongue out at Marima, and Marima did the same back at Demma.

Brinia giggled, unable to keep herself from smiling at the sight of the two lovers play fighting with each other. Brinia wasn’t a spiteful or jealous person at all, the sight of two people in love like Demma and Marima were, it made her feel, well… it made Brinia feel warm inside seeing two women as passionately in love as the two girls fighting over her were. The two of them giggled to themselves as well, dropping their act and cooing at each other. 

“That’s better!!” Demma leaned back slightly, grinning eagerly at the sight of Brinia smiling. “I have an idea, Marima~”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Marima was slowly crawling her way up to Brinia’s throat, placing her index finger on the pink glyph on the very end of her collarbone. 

...Then Brinia felt Demma do the same, placing her finger on the brown glyph on the exact opposite end. “How about we share her?”

Brinia’s face blushed, glancing back at Demma before turning back to look at Marima’s smug expression. “Sounds good to me, Demma darling~”

 _Oh no…_ And then it hit her. At first, Brinia was concerned about what was about to happen, and then she heard the words in her head. The command phrases, no…

 _The command phrase._ Just one, for the both of them. Eia planned on this, and the two of them were staring at her expectantly. It was more than just a phrase, it was a poem, much like Brinia had given to Eia to show her devotion, a love song, for the two most passionate of lovers. She was ready for this kind of love, she took a deep breath, and then she spoke.

“A poem for two to show I commit, sing me a song and make me submit. I give to you my full consent, so ride me to your heart’s content~”

Both glyphs began to glow, brown and pink, creating a weird aura around them, Brinia was suddenly finding herself to be the vanilla center of some weird neapolitan ice cream sandwich, and she wasn’t getting out of this anytime soon. 

“Sit upright, girl.” Demma snarled into Brinia’s ears, trying to mimic the way that Eia growled at her prey, but it was most certainly enough to straighten Brinia’s spine out. 

“Legs spread.” Marima ordered, and Brinia followed. The sphinx woman’s legs were on either side of hers, but the dryad spread her legs as well as she could. 

“Sit still, Brinia Alistora, we” 

“-will do all of the work for you, don’t you worry~”

They were literally finishing each other’s sentences now, and Brinia wasn’t sure who had started the sentence and who had finished it. But she was sure that she was hearing it, and that she was going to listen to them. 

Tongues. They both started using their tongues. Brinia felt the mermaid slowly swim up between her legs, putting her mouth to the dryad’s wet little flower, and gently slip her tongue inside with ease. Demma meanwhile was just grooming the girl, providing a backboard for Brinia to lean against as she put her tongue to the dryad’s hair, licking and cleaning it like a mother cat would bathe their young. But because the fuzzy cloud in the dryad’s brain made her so sensitive to the touch, it tingled, it stung, it felt amazing.

Brinia bit her bottom lip, leaning her head back into Demma’s chest, hearing the two girls speak in unison. “We’re going to have a lot of fun with you~”

↞✶↠

“Well well… what in the **world** do we have here~” Eia stepped into the mother’s chamber, her eyes going wide with surprise as she laid her eyes on Cerilla and her houseguest. 

“Seems like the dryad and I picked up a tail, she followed us all the way to the den.” Cerilla grinned, kicking the woman at her feet with her metal boot. “She managed to stalk us all the way back home, despite her injuries… I was almost certain that I left her unable to move for at least the rest of the day.”

“But she popped right back to her feet and followed you…” Eia smiled, admiring the once again bound gargoyle at Cerilla’s feet. “What’s the deal with that, Nightingale?”

“I’m a lot stronger than you might think I am, promise. I’m not here to fight you, Miss Madaerie…” Zawdra nodded her head. “I just want to talk.” 

“Out with it then, what brings you to my humble home. What’s my new bride not telling me about you?” Eia kneeled down over the gargoyle woman, looking her over and examining her. “What’s your girlfriend hiding from me?”

Zawdra lowered her head, her stoneskin cheeks blushing a hot magmatic red. “So she told you?”

“No.” Eia smiled at her, gesturing for Cerilla to move aside so that the lady protector could kneel at her feet instead. “But you just did, didn’t you?”

Eia could have sworn that the dryad had a partner, but upon meeting Fennecca she could tell that the minx woman was very much not it. 

“Look. This isn’t fair to her. This isn’t fair to her daughter. This isn’t fair to the villagers.” Zawdra’s face grew hot with both anger and embarrassment. “This isn’t fair to me… I shouldn’t have to protect them all on my own, I shouldn’t have to protect her daughter- our daughter all on my own.”

“Frankly, I don’t really care if this isn’t fair to you, I don’t really have the room for you here, after all.” Eia placed her hand on Zawdra’s cheek, admiring the dryad’s taste in women. “But let’s talk about those villagers~”

“What about the villagers, Madaerie?” 

“You said you wanted to meet to discuss the safety of your people, so let us discuss just that…” Eia crossed her legs, flashing a smile at the gargoyle with her painted lips. “How many are we talking about here?”

“Just under 2500 villagers-” 

“That’s quite a lot of villagers for me to have to handle taking care of on my own, Nightingale. Especially if they’re going to be working against me-”

“Well what if they’re not working against you, what if they’re working **with** you?” Zawdra looked up at Eia from the floor below, a desperate expression painted on her face. “...What if they’re working **for** you, Ma’am?”

Eia’s ears perked up at the thought of it, tilting her head curiously at the lady protector. “Go on~”

“As Lady Protector, they serve me, but-” Cerilla and Eia both jerked slightly as she watched Zawdra bow to Eia, putting her head to the floor. “That title can be yours, if you so desire~”

“And they’d serve **me**?” Eia bit her bottom lip, almost getting flustered seeing the gargoyle go prostrate at their feet. 

“They serve the **Lady Protector**.” Zawdra sat back up, her pleading eyes staring straight up at Eia. 

“Lady Protector…” Eia mused over it, listening to the sound of the title in her head. “And what would happen to you, Zawdra?”

“I would serve you as well.” Zawdra blushed again, furling her brows and swallowing nervously. “Whatever that entails…”

“Are you…” Eia grinned, giggling under her breath. “Are you offering yourself to me, Nightingale?”

“I may be an Alistora, but I am not Brinia, Ma’am.” Zawdra closed her eyes, leaning down and kissing Eia’s fur covered foot. “I don’t waver on my convictions.”

“I can see that now.” Eia uncrossed her legs, standing up and walking back over to her den mother. “Very well then… I’ll become your Lady Protector~”

Eia glared Cerilla directly into her eyes, watching the hobgoblin quiver under the weight of her master’s gaze. “But **you** had better not get any funny ideas.”

Cerilla bowed, getting down on her knees like Zawdra had been to show her respect. “Untie the gargoyle and escort her home, as Lady Protector, I’m appointing my den mother, Cerilla, as one of your Quartermasters…” 

“What about me, Madaerie?” Zawdra turned to face them both, going slack to let Cerilla have an easier time of untying her. “What happens to me then?”

“You report directly to Cerilla now, Nightingale.” Eia watched the two women rise, smiling eagerly at her den mother. “Consider yourself her lieutenant.”

“Yes Madame Protector~” The first thing that Zawdra did once freed from her bindings wasn’t to fight, but to bow, flourishing her wings to Eia. She paused, still bowing, her thoughts trailing back to Alistora. “Is she safe?”

“She’s not in any immediate danger, don’t worry.” Eia smirked at Zawdra, gesturing for the two of them to head out. “But this will go a long way towards ensuring **her** safety, as well as yours~”

Nightingale let out a sigh of relief, rising back to her feet. “Thank you, that means a lot to me…”

“Now get going.” Eia picked up her staff, pointing towards the door. “And don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing there, Zawdra~”

Zawdra bit her lip, looking over at Eia with confusion. “And what’s that?”

“Trying to earn your way back to her.” Eia gave her a friendly smile. “Keep it up and I’ll get you two lovebirds back together soon enough~”

Zawdra smiled, nodding her head. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course I do, I’m not unreasonably cruel…” Eia winked at the gargoyle. “I can share~” 

↞✶↠

Brinia found herself on her back next to the pool, her hands and legs pinned beneath Demma’s, looking up into the lion’s eyes. 

Demma growled under her breath, watching the dryad whimper in fear beneath her. “Marima dear, what do you think I should do with my fresh catch?”

“Feed her to the depths, my sweet~” Marima giggled, swimming in circles around the center of the pool. “The creatures of the abyss will take great joy in consuming her~”

“No, please beast, anything but that!!” Brinia tilted her head, giggling under her breath as she played along with the lovebirds little roleplaying scene. “Whatever could I possibly do to convince you to spare me~??”

“There’s nothing you can do that can save you now, faerie-” Demma grinned, picking one paw up off of Brinia’s arm, licking the back of her hand as she loomed over her prey. “Unless…”

“Unless what, you fiend?” Brinia swooned, putting the back of her own hand to her forehead as sighing in the most dramatic way possible. “I’ll do anything~!!”

“Anything at all, dryad?” Marima swam to the edge of the pool, reaching out for her. “Then come feed yourself to my pets~!!”

Brinia gasped, tilting her head to look away from Marima. “I can’t-”

Demma growled at the mermaid, climbing off of Brinia and lurking towards the water. “Back off water sprite, she’s mine~!!”

“She belongs to the kraken!!”

“She belongs to me~!!” Demma pounced, slashing at Marima with her claws retracted to prevent her from actually hurting the other girl. 

Marima gasped, feigning death at Demma’s hands and receding back into the depths below.

“My hero~” Brinia murmured sarcastically, still playing along with the scene. “Whatever could I do to repay you?”

“You can be a good girl and put your pretty little mouth to work cleaning out my pussy, thrall.” Demma smiled eagerly, returning to the dryad. “And then I will see about letting you live out the rest of your life in my dungeons, serving as my **personal** sex slave~”

“Yes, Ma’am!! Of course, anything you say, anything at all!!” Brinia rose to her hands and knees, keeping her head down out of respect as she slowly crawled over to Demma, putting her lips to the sphinx’s vulva. “If that’s what it takes for you to spare my pitiful life, then I will gladly serve as your sex slave~”

The words didn’t really sound all that bad when she heard herself say them, the inherent fiction at play in the roleplaying scene making it a lot easier for Brinia to admit to what she was, a sex slave.

And she wasn’t sure if it was just the trance, or if she really liked being humiliated like this~

Minutes later, Brinia heard Demma snarl loudly as she came, squirting just a bit of fluid into the dryad’s mouth as she did so.

“What happens to me now?”

Brinia watched as Demma stood, leaning down and picking her up, carrying her to the edge of the pool. “Now, sex slave, you go to the dungeon~!!”

 **_Splash!!_ ** Demma tossed Brinia into the air, watching her sink into the depths below, only to be rescued by Marima, bringing her up back to the surface and setting her on the floor on the opposite end of the pool. 

“Oh no, has the fall taken your life dear?” Marima swooned over the dryad’s body, biting her lip and hanging her head. “Alas, maybe death is a better escape than life here in our lord’s dungeon.”

Brinia coughed, pretending to be recovering from drowning. “What, where am I… Have you saved me?”

Marima sighed, cooing at her fellow prisoner under her breath. “Oh no my dear, I’m afraid you’re in our lord’s dungeon, there’s no way out for you now~”

“No way at all?” 

“None for you, my dear.” Marima gestured at the now quickly approaching Demma, transformed into her natural sphinx form and making her way over to them. “For you see the only way out for us is through our lord’s legs, we can only hope to see the light of day by finding ourselves serving as her toys. Unless we want to find ourselves in her belly, we will put ourselves between her legs where we belong…” 

“A-are you sure?” Brinia whined. “There must be another way~!!”

“There’s no way out for you, I’m afraid, my loyal sex slave.” Demma marched right up to Brinia, putting her lips to the dryad’s and sweeping her away into a kiss. “You belong to **me** now, so spread your fucking legs, I’m hungry~”

“Yes, my lord!!” Brinia laid back spreading her legs as far as she could for her predator. “Please my lord, take me, use me, let me serve as your sex slave until the end of my miserable life.”

“Very well doll, now be a good little sex slave and **serve your lord and master~** ”

“Mmmph~!!!!” Brinia did as she was told, thoroughly enjoying every moment of having Demma’s rough catlike tongue shoved up her slit, arching her back and cumming sweet fruity liquids into her sister’s mouth as she came just a few minutes later.

“And scene!!” After she was finished there was a short silence while both Brinia and Demma caught their breath, before Marima popped back in. “At least that’s how I imagine it going with you and Eia~”

“It went a little bit differently, but… that was fucking amazing…” Brinia sighed loudly, laying her exhausted head down on the floor beneath her as she tried to hide her face behind her forearm. “How did you… why did you-”

“We’re your sisters now. We have each other’s backs, we make each other happy…” Demma taunted her. “And somebody was **definitely** enjoying herself just now.”

Brinia bit her lip in embarrassment, her cheeks turning bright pink. “I- I would never… it was just the trance-”

“Uh-huh, sure it was~” Marima interrupted, smirking at her as she laid her head down on the dryad’s belly. “Somebody likes **humiliation** , doesn’t she?" 

Brinia groaned, whining at the wonderful feelings in her body fading away from her as the charm’s power over her ended. “I do **not** like being humiliated, thank you.”

“She’s lying.” Demma giggled to herself, pulling Marima off of Brinia’s stomach and into her chest for snuggles. 

“I am not!” Brinia shot up, sitting straight and glaring at Demma, a bright red blush on her flustered cheeks. It was a childish thing to do, but she didn’t want Demma to humiliate her like this, ironically. _I am not into this. I do not like being humiliated, I don’t._

“Tell yourself whatever you’d like Brinia, but I don’t need to read your mind to know that you like it~” Demma grinned mischievously. “With my nose, I can smell you getting hot just thinking about it.”

“I- uuuugh!!!” Brinia pinched her thighs together, standing up and beginning to walk away from the pair of other women. “Thanks for going easy on me, really, I appreciate it, but I need to be going now.”

“You’re going to Eia now, aren’t you?” Marima teased her, giggling to herself as she watched Brinia begin to wring water from her hair. “Gonna go ask her to humiliate and degrade and debase you?” 

Brinia’s face turned an even brighter shade of red. “I will be doing nothing of the sort.”

“But you are going to Eia now~” Demma continued to help tease her. 

“Fuck you and your damned mind reading powers, Demma.” Brinia wrapped herself in a towel, trying to make herself look presentable for seeing her master. “Yes, I’m going to go see Eia, I have an apology to make.”

“We’re just teasing you Brinia, we’re not going to tell Eia, we promise.” Brinia turned back to see Marima frowning at her. “Demma tells me all of the dirty little secrets she finds out, but unless Master needs to know, I don’t tell her… and neither does she.”

Brinia sighed, slowly but surely drying her leafy hair. “I don’t know what I like yet, okay?”

“If you do like being humiliated, it’s going to make this all a lot easier for you…” Demma nudged Marima, kissing her mermaid girlfriend on her forehead. “Marima here likes being humiliated~”

“I do! I really do!” Marima smiled at Brinia, unashamed. “And so does Demma~”

“Not as much as she does though~” Demma snarled under her breath, kissing Marima on the lips this time. 

“Well… If I figure it out, you two will be the first to know. Are you two okay if I leave?” Brinia swallowed nervously, beginning to once again get dressed so that she can go find Eia. “I **need** to go see her.”

The two lovebirds smiled at her, nodding their heads as they rose to their feet to help her. 

Demma and Marima were the most welcoming pair of sisters that Brinia had met yet, they even went so far as giving her the parting gift of helping dry her off, help her get dressed, and do her hair for her before seeing her out to find her master. She sighed to herself, closing the door gently behind her, finally going on her way. 

_She was meeting with Cerilla, right?_ Brinia took a deep breath, taking a few steps towards the door back out of the den, dead set on marching straight over to Eia and putting herself between the wendigo’s legs instead. 

But not before she felt her wrist being grasped by another one of her sisters. 

“…And where do you think you’re going, little sis~?”


	11. Lap Dog

“It bit me, Ollik!!”

Izona stormed into the room, clutching her bleeding wrist as she approached her husband. “I swear to gods Ollik, you have to put that thing down.”

“Of course it bit you, it’s a hunting dog, that’s what it does.” The nine foot tall goliath man snarled under his breath at the nearly eleven foot tall pseudo-giant woman. “Get down on your knees when you talk, you know I hate looking up at you.”

Izona bit her lip, lowering herself to her knees so that she was looking up at her shorter husband. “It’s not a hunting dog sweetie, it’s a monster!!”

She was nearly crying, begging for her husband to take her seriously, desperate to be rid of the awful creature. “It’s been speaking to me…”

“For the love of the gods, Izona-” Ollik snarled under his breath, about ready to backhand his wife. “For the last fucking time, it has not been speaking to you.”

“But it has, darling… I swear it has, I can prove it-” Izona began to plead, but she didn’t get very far before her barbarian husband went through with backhanding her across the face. 

“I am trying to protect the entirety of the Frosted Forest from hobgoblins, and you’re going insane!!” Ollik growled at the kneeling giantess, pointing towards the other room. “That thing has been my most reliable hunting dog for years now, and suddenly you’re trying to tell me that it can talk?!”

“I found it fucking itself with its own antlers, honey!! It’s not just an animal, it speaks!!” Izona continued to plead, her hands clasped in front of her chest. She was a huge woman, but she didn’t have the mental strength to stand up to her husband. “I’m not crazy…”

“That’s it, Izona.” Ollik turned around, storming off into the other room. “If you’re not crazy, then you’re lying to me!!”

The bestiary was packed with cages, each filled with all sorts of different animals that the goliath trained and used out in the field. But out of all of the beasts Ollik had captured, raised, and tamed, there was one monster who held in extremely high regard. He loved that thing just about as much as he loved his wife, if not more. 

“Can you speak, girl?” Ollik pounded his hand on the top of the cage, staring into the bars. “Is my wife going insane, or is she just lying to me?”

The beast cowered at the back of its cage, growling loudly at its owner. For the last five years, Ollik had treated that thing better than he treated any of his other beasts, to the detriment of his loving wife, who he forced to continually feed and take care of each of his monstrous animals while he was away. 

Yet for some inexplicable reason, his prized pet had started acting up, and it was supposed to be his wife’s job to bring the beast back in line. Despite his best efforts to cause otherwise, it had imprinted on Izona after all.

“Wow. Silence and growls, big surprise.” Ollik stood, slamming his fist against the cage before returning to his already kneeling wife. “Really sweetie, really? There is a military invasion happening right outside of our front door, and you want to waste my time by trying to convince me that jackals can talk?”

Izona said nothing, cowering in place as she anticipated another backhand to the head. 

“Pull yourself back together and get this thing under your heel, or I will do a lot more than beat you tonight…” Ollik decided that striking his wife wasn’t even worth his time, as he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him, cursing loudly as he returned to his wife. 

Izona sobbed loudly, still bent over the floor just behind the bestiary door as she slammed the wall behind her with her fist, pummelling it with the full force of her giantess strength. “You’re ruining my life…”

“Hey, that’s not fair to me…” The beast crawled its way towards Izona, her short antlers scraping across the ceiling of the small metal box. “You’re not the one being kept in a cage.” 

“Oh, so now you really can speak!!” Izona angrily spat at the ugly little monster crawling towards the front of her cage, forcing the beast to cower backwards cautiously. “My husband thinks I’m insane.”

“Your husband is a monster, Mrs. Killtree…” The creature peered through the bars of her prison, scratching angrily at the metal floor she laid on. “I’m not trying to ruin your life or your marriage, I’m trying not to get myself killed…”

“Don’t you dare talk about my husband like that!!” Izona watched the monster shuffle back into her cage, growling under her breath, no longer saying anything at all. “If you’re not going to speak with him, then why won’t you just behave…”

The monster lowered its head, not bothering to look up at the other woman. It was a strange creature indeed, the short antlers attached to the top of its head were one thing, but the monster also seemed to have the legs of a rabbit, and the fangs and claws of a jackal. But what was weirdest was the skull that adorned its face like a mask, seemingly unable to be detached from it.

Yet over time it had grown considerably stranger, the pair of giants were concerned when large patches of fur started to be shed from the creature's torso, revealing smooth humanlike skin. Izona had grown concerned that they weren’t dealing with a wild animal at all. 

She continued to feed the beast, tearing off limbs of game that her husband hunted for the express purpose of feeding his attack dogs, not wanting them to grow weak. Izona continued to feed and take care of the creature, both because her husband would kill her if she didn’t, and also because she had actually grown to like the thing over the years, but the creature’s recent changes not only startled but mortified the giantess. 

Izona dropped the meat into the monster’s cage before quickly yanking her arm out of the cage, desperate not to be bitten again. The creature waited for a few moments before crawling forwards, picking the deer leg up in her mouth and retreating backwards to the furthest reaches of her kennel to eat. “Thank you…”

Izona scoffed, shaking her head at the monster. “If my husband were here right now-”

“If your husband were here right now, what?” The creature tore out a chunk of her dinner, gnawing at the bone with her fangs. “What would be different?”

Izona said nothing, knowing very well that her husband didn’t care to listen to what she had to say. The monster was right, Ollik was a monster. He didn’t seem to care at all about his wife’s mental state, and how the terrible creature was affecting her. All Ollik seemed to care about was his trained beasts, and being able to use them to fight off hobgoblin attacks in his efforts as the guardian of the Frosted Forest.

“What’s your name, Mrs. Killtree?” The creature picked her meal clean, chewing on the bone like a dog. “If I may have permission to ask~”

“Now you want permission to speak… you had permission to speak, why didn’t you just ask when my husband was here?” 

“Because I don’t like your husband.” 

“And does that mean you like me?” 

The beast didn’t answer, returning to chewing on the now cleaned off bone. “I have a name now.”

_ I can not believe this. _ The beast had spoken to Izona before, but it had never tried to have a conversation with her. Yet here it was all of a sudden, chatting away. It was like it became less and less of a beast and more and more of a person every single day, and after five years of raising it like a mindless monster, that was terrifying to Izona. She could not possibly understand who and what this person was, and that was terrifying. 

“After five years of slaving away at his side, I don’t want to be your husband's attack dog anymore.” The creature continued, alarmingly more literate than it should be, even as it desperately tried to use the now sharpened bone from its meal as a wedge to remove its skull mask from its face. “Because even after all of that time, you two still haven’t given me a name…” 

Izona stood at the front of the cage looking inside, whoever she was, she was terribly cramped in there, and she had been living in that tiny prison since she was much much smaller. It was very possible that living in this kennel had stunted her development, and being treated like a monster made her turn out to be a monster all this time. 

Izona shuddered, watching the creature continue to sharpen the bone with her teeth, scared that she might use it as a weapon, or even worse, a tool to escape her cage with. “Give me that.”

The beast tilted her head up, bone still in her mouth as she hissed at the giantess, holding it close to her. “I need it.”   
“No, you don’t, give that to me.” Izona shook the cage, watching the monster lose her grip on the bone and drop it on the floor of the cage long enough for Izona to reach in and snatch it before she could pick it back up. 

“I need that!!” The beast struck out with its paws, snagging Izona by the already injured hand before she could extract the bone dagger from the cage. She scrambled to pick it up before the pseudo-giant could, quickly retreating to the back of her kennel to try and wedge her mask off once again. 

Izona however, did not want to try and take the dagger away from her again. She was now on the verge of tears, clutching her once again bleeding hand to her chest in agony. The smaller creature took note of this, pulling the bone from her mask as she crawled towards the bar of her cage, examining the wound on the bigger woman’s paws. “Did I bite you…”

Izona snapped back at her, wincing and growling in pain under her breath as she watched the creature press her face up to the bars of her cage. 

The beast held her paw outside of the kennel, and then dropped the bone onto the ground for Izona to pick up. “I don’t want to hurt you…”

It was a stark difference from the way that her husband treated her. Ollik didn’t at all care about how much he was hurting his wife, but even the creature before her seemed to show some remorse for inflicting pain upon the pseudo-giant woman, even on accident.

Izona reached down, picking the bone up off of the floor. The creature didn’t move at all, her paws still curled around the bars of her cage, face pressed up to them, now trying to wedge her mask off of her face. 

“Do you-” Izona swallowed nervously, setting the sharp implement down on the table next to her. “Do you want me to take that off for you?”

Dear little Izona, always trying to be helpful, even in the face of a heartless that might kill you. But she had helped raise the animal, and she hated seeing it in such discomfort. Her eyes lit up as she looked over at the giantess through the bars of her cage, nodding her head desperately. 

“But if I do you have to behave.” Izona nervously approached her. The beast’s ears flattened in shame, but she nodded her head again anyways, tilting her face upward to give Izona somewhere to grip onto. 

_ Crack. _ Izona might have been a pacifist in many ways, but she was no weakling. She pulled with two hands, and in an instant the mask was detached from the monster’s face. 

“Your face…” The creature looked up at Izona, catching the giantess off guard. Before she had even pulled her hands out of the cage, she was frozen in place staring at the creature’s face. A terrifyingly human face, a woman’s face. 

“Is it ugly…” The monster lowered her head in shame, watching the giantess stare at her. Izona began to retract her hands, the mask still in her grasp. “No, wait!”

“Let go!!” Izona dropped the mask, wincing as the woman once again grabbed her wrist, agitating the already open wound. The monster now held the woman’s hand in both of her paws, keeping her arm in the cage as gently as she could as she began to sniff the woman’s hands.

_ Peck.  _ The creature brought her lips to Izona’s bleeding hand, gently planting a kiss onto the wound before releasing her wrist, letting her finally pull out of the cage. 

“There!!” Izona clutched it to her chest once again, snarling at the monster. “Now you have to behave!!”

“I’ll behave, Miss…” Izona yelled at the poor woman in her cage, for the first time watching the girl’s expression change to a stunningly beautiful, yet heart wrenchingly tragic expression. “I’m sorry…” 

“Izona… my first name is Izona, but Miss works fine.” Izona took a step back, feeling a strange tingling sensation in her injured hand, pulling it from her chest and gasping at the sight of her skin quickly cinching closed, magically healing itself, almost as if it was from the monster’s kiss. “I… How did you… you’re magic.”

“Hi Miss Izona…” The creature nodded her head, biting her lip nervously as she looked up at the giantess.

“My name is Eia…”

↞✶↠

She stared into Brinia’s eyes, soaking in the terrified expression on her face as the giantess forcefully grabbed her by the wrist. 

Izona gasped, quickly letting go of Brinia’s wrist and watching the dryad step away from her. Izona’s right wrist instinctively clutched itself to the giantess’ chest as she gently rubbed it with the other hand. 

“It’s okay, I don’t want to hurt you…” Izona cautiously stepped towards her new sister, extending her hand once again. “I just forget my own strength sometimes…”

Brinia stepped away a few feet, backing up towards where she had just come from, taking a moment to recompose herself. "You scared me…"

"I can see that." Izona chuckled nervously, feeling a little bit bad for startling her sister. "Can we go somewhere alone, Brinia?"

"Alone?" Brinia bit her lip, gazing towards the door to the entry chamber. She still wanted to march over to her master and rectify making a fool of herself twice already today. But Brinia was nice, and it was hard to just shrug the pseudo-giant off and wave her away because of nothing. "Is it important?" 

"Kind of." Izona glanced over to whatever the dryad was looking at, following Brinia's gaze to the door out of the den. "We can play outside if you want… I just want to go somewhere quiet and alone."

"I'm sorry, I was on my way to go find Eia-" Brinia turned back to Izona, finally seeing and noticing what the giantess had strapped to her back. "Why do you have that?"

"Oh right, that." Izona had briefly forgotten that she was even carrying it, but half of the reason she was searching for the dryad anyways was to give it to her. "Don't worry, I'm being careful about it this time."

Brinia’s hands twitched nervously, wanting to just swipe it away from Izona right then and there. "But… what about what happened last time?"

"Like I said, I'm being careful." Izona reached onto her back and pulled out the staff, holding out the Hollow's Heart towards Brinia. "You can take it if you want to, as long as we can go talk."

Brinia paused for a moment before nodding, holding out her hand for Izona to give her magic staff to her, still glancing over at the doorway outside. "Outside then?"

"Works for me." Izona handed it off, and it wasn't until she did so that Brinia noticed the hand that had grasped her was wrapped in bandages. "Follow me, I have a nice spot in mind."

↞✶↠

Even Brinia had to admit that it was a rather pretty spot out in the woods nearby, the pair of girls could see the light of the setting sun, even through the fog that surrounded the den every night.

"So, what's up?" Brinia found a comfortable spot on the forest floor to sit, taking a seat next to Izona.

"To say sorry for being such a huge…" Izona sighed, scoffing at herself. "a huge buffalo."

"A buffalo?" Brinia smiled, unsure of exactly what Izona was talking about. "What's a buffalo?"

"Right, I used to have buffalo, but I think they're extinct in the wild now." Izona held out her arms, trying to stretch her wingspan to gesture the size of a buffalo. "They're these huge stupid brutes that stomp around and charge into things, bashing their heads against anything that irks them."

" **You** used to have some?" 

"Well you have to remember, I am pretty big!!" Izona pouted, irked by being made fun of for her newfound small size, but trying not to bash her head into her new sister, like she had last time. "I used to be able to ride the damn things."

"They sound like the type of creature it would be hard to hunt to extinction, don't they?" Brinia gripped onto her staff, appreciating the feeling of being able to hold it once again. "If they're that big, what happened to them?"

"What always happens to big stupid creatures that can be put to some sort of use, they were largely herded up and taken as livestock by the hobgoblins."

Brinia nodded, it was kind of weird to think about, but of course the hobgoblins tamed wild animals for their own use, she had just gotten so preoccupied by the fact that the Najistairean's used  _ people  _ as livestock to worry about the actual poor animal populations that were now owned and controlled by the hobgoblin overlords. "We get so concerned about the whole slavery thing that we forget about all of the other helpless creatures out there."

"Slavery for them has been a way of life for centuries, and they don't even know it." Izona reached down and picked up a small stone, tossing it across the forest and watching it soar away from the pair of women. "Even I used to treat animals like slaves and not even think of it as such… so I suppose it's fair that I put up with the same treatment." 

"I've always refused to own pets. It feels too much like slavery." The dryad added. "All creatures deserve to live life freely… and not have to endure their entire existence as property of some creature who thinks she's better than them, even buffalo."

"Not this buffalo…" Izona grunted, chucking another stone across the forest. "I've had my time as the herder, and I am not going back."

"You keep calling yourself a buffalo… but I still don't understand, why are you apologizing?"

"For being a huge stupid brute and stomping around all over you like I own the place…" Izona glanced down at the Hollow's Heart, sighing to herself as she remembered her actions. "For bashing my big dumb head into you just for irking me."

"Is this about freaking out on me?"

"That  **and** for turning on you like I did, letting Zaikana just… bully you."

"It's not your fault, I can take care of myself."

"Yeah but you shouldn't have to, I should be there to protect and take care of you too, just like my other sisters."

"Izona, I-"

"Master didn't even punish me, and I just don't think that's fair." Izona growled under her breath, angry at her owner, but more than anything infuriated at herself. "Cerilla got a serious beating, and she didn't give Zaikana a turn with you… so I don't think it's fair that she didn't do anything to me."

"You were just… doing your best weren't you?" Brinia set down her staff, trying and failing to feel the magic inside of it still locked away from her. "It doesn't really do me any good to tell me about this, what's the point, Izona?"

"Everyone is forcing you to apologize for every little thing that you might have done to them, so I thought it would be fair if I said sorry to you, too." 

Brinia smiled, appreciating the gesture. "Thank you, Izona."

"Master goes too easy on me." Like running through a checklist, Izona moved to her next point of conversation. "She treats me like I'm special."

Confused, Brinia glanced back towards the den, still not seeing any of Eia's other brides. "What do you mean by special?"

"She doesn't just treat me like just another one of her brides." Izona looked down to the side and picked up the Hollow's Heart, making sure Brinia saw that she was doing so. "She doesn't even really treat me like the buffalo I am… she doesn't treat me like a slave."

"Why is that?" Brinia nervously grinded her teeth, reaching out and silently asking to take the staff back away from Izona, which the giantess allowed. "That's what you are, isn't it?"

"Yes and no… Because unlike all of you, I joined her willingly." Izona smiled, still looking over at the mother's chamber where Eia was presumably still presiding. "I was the first."

"Eia's first bride you mean?" Brinia knew that, but she didn't really stop to think about what exactly it meant for Izona. 

"Yeah, I was Eia's first bride." Izona swallowed nervously, holding her bandaged hand to her chest. She had been bitten by one of her master's kits this morning, and the wound on her hand just reminded her of the very same wound that Eia had given her when she was still a young beast. "But Eia wasn't my first spouse."

"You keep dancings around it, but I have noticed, don't think I haven't." Brinia crossed her legs in front of her, leaning back against the tree trunk behind her. "You were with Ollik the goliath, weren't you?"

"I was, yeah." Izona snorted, thinking back to her time married to that jerk. "Ironically, I wasn't his first wife either."

"What happened to him?" Brinia paused, gripping her favored weapon to her chest. "I respected him. He was the guardian of the Frosted Forest for so long, valiantly defending his realm against hobgoblins, just like I did, until one day he just disappeared…"

"That stubborn man would never let the hobgoblins be the end of him, no way in hell he was going to let that happen." Izona snarled under her breath at just the thought of that man. "He wasn't a very sociable person, he had me, who foolishly agreed to be his wife, and he had his hunting buddy… but aside from the two of us, he just had his animals, his beasts."

"You said you had buffalo?"

"We had those and all sorts of things, the possibilities were endless when you were his size… though I was always taller than him, mind you… but dogs, stags, big cats, birds, he had everything you could imagine." Izona slipped a finger under her collar, tugging on it every so gently. "He had monsters… and I was always too foolish to realize that he kept me around just to help keep his beasts in line, to help him keep the creatures as his slaves."

"If the hobgoblins didn't do him in, then what did?"

"The same thing that did you in~" 

"Eia, you mean?"

"She claimed me as her own, but our master was merciless with Ollik…"

"And Ollik's hunting partner?"

"Nurzickka. Yeah, she got to him too…" Izona giggled to herself, shaking her head at the thought of it. "And I'm not sure whether  **his** fate was more or less cruel than Ollik's was… but it was what it was."

"What happened there?"

"You'd have to ask Master about that… here-" Izona held out her hand once again, gesturing for Brinia to hand her the staff. 

Izona took it, twirling it in her hand for just a second before tossing it across the forest like she had done so with the stones she had picked up earlier.

Brinia shot up to her feet, about to take off and run after it herself, scared of just how far the giantess had thrown the magical artifact. "Izona!! what did you-"

"Just hold on, this will be good I promise." Izona stood up, stopping Brinia from chasing after it. She whistled loudly, as if she was beckoning for a dog to go fetch. "Trust me. I've trained lots of beasts before…"

Brinia tensed up, pacific nervously. Whatever poor critter picked that thing up was most surely not in for a very good time. The magic of the staff was enough to overpower even Izona, there was no telling what havoc it might wreak on any number of smaller beasties.

"Don't worry, Brinia. She knows how to play fetch." Izona smiled, trying to reassure her little sister that it was going to be fine. "She's no buffalo, but trust me, she's big enough to handle it."

It took a few more moments, but sure enough Brinia heard movement ahead of them in the bushes surrounding the clearing they had set up a little spot to sit in. As expected, some mighty creature of not insignificant size had come to play fetch with the giantess, right on cue at the sound of her whistle.

_ Huge antlers. Fuzzy ears. Four legs. Sharp claws and teeth. Lots of fur. A small little tail. Gorgeous mascara.  _

_ Wait a minute, that's-  _

The large, beautiful creature gleefully trodded up to Izona across the clearing, pawing her way towards the giantess on all fours. The magic staff was firmly clenched in her sharp jaws as she blithely chewed on the oversized wooden stick that she had just finished fetching.

Her gaze was already fixed on Izona, either not bothering to turn her head to face Brinia, or possibly not even realizing that the dryad was here in the first place. 

It was a strange sight to see, but she didn't seem to care in the slightest, her tiny little tail wagging almost proudly as she delivered the Hollow's Heart back to the one who threw it. Brinia didn't even realize that she had a tail, but it was honestly quite adorable watching it flick back and forth as she played fetch, despite her not actually being a dog.

"Izona dearest, you're going to ruin my makeup." The wendigo crawled up to the giantess on all fours, dropping the Hollow's Heart into Izona's lap before proceeding to scold the smaller woman. "Nozie and I did a lot of work on that."

Izona giggled, reaching out and petting Eia on the end. "Since when does Strongarm do makeup?" 

"Since I started to force-feed her with feminine charm, is when~" Eia snarled playfully, leaning in and kissing her pseudo-giant bride on the lips. "Stupid little snowman barbarian can't stay a tomboy forever, not if I have anything to say about that… and I do~"

"I never thought Noriza would allow that, all things considering." Izona picked up the Hollow's Heart again, twirling it in her hand for just a moment. "But I suppose I don't have to throw it again, if your makeup is that important to you~"

"Just shut up and throw it again!!" Eia glared directly into Izona's eyes, snarling loudly at the other woman. "That's an order." 

"Yes, Ma'am~" Izona giggled to herself, throwing the staff through the trees so that Eia could go fetch it once again, which she did.

Eia chased after it on all fours again, carrying it back to the clearing with her in her mouth again, but this time she most certainly noticed the dryad. Judging by the blush in the wendigo's face as she made eye contact with her newest bride, who was very much watching her make a fool of herself by playing along and doing tricks for Izona like she was a dog.

"A-Alistora!!" Eia quickly spat the Hollow's Heart out of her mouth, letting it roll on the ground in front of her. 

"H-hello, Ma'am…" Brinia also blushed, turning her face away so that the wendigo couldn't see the flustered look on the dryad's cheeks as she was exposed to the show of humiliation from the perspective of an onlooker. This must have been what it was like to watch Brinia give her silly little concession speech to Eia in front of the whole village.

"Izona!!" Eia stood, stomping her way over the pseudo-giant. "I ought to put you over my knee right now, just for making a fool out of me in front of Alistora of all people!!"

"What!! You always used to love playing fetch with me!!" Izona continued to taunt her. "It was your favorite game~!!"

"Not in front of your sisters." Eia snarled, snatching the Hollow's Heart off of the ground and pushing it into Izona's chest, completing the second round of fetch. "I've put some extra magical precautions  **on** the staff this time. It should keep your little misfire from happening again."

"Aww heck, I was hoping you'd let me be giant for my turn with Brinia."

"Not a chance in the world,  **little thing** ."

"Should I excuse myself, Ma'am?" Brinia interrupted, still trying not to watch. "I- I was going to ask… but you seem to be busy."

"Yes, I am quite busy… just not with Izona." Eia huffed, shaking her head and smirking at the giantess. "So you, my dearest, had better get in your time with Brinia, because you're running out of time for the night."

"Yes, Ma'am. Of course." Izona turned towards the dryad, tossing the staff over to her. "I was just about to~"

"Let this have been a lesson on humiliation and restraint." Eia scoffed, trying to save face. "And not a poor reflection on my dominance or any perceived lack of control over my brides~"

"I can see what you mean when you say she goes easy on you…" Watching the two of them was cute, and Brinia couldn't help but giggle. 

"Eugh…" Eia slid her mask on, trying to hide her blushing face. "How much did you tell her, Izona?"

"Nothing important. I hadn't even gotten to the part about you being one of Ollik and I's pets." Izona smiled innocently. "You should have seen it Brinia, Eia was so cute when she was little, I was always her favorite-"

"And here I've always treated you extra with all of my love and mercy, but I will show you going easy, runt." Izona was promptly silenced by her master grasping her by her collar and hoisting her into the air like she was nothing. "Here you girls talk about me replacing the head of family, but we'll see how happy you are once I make her replace  _ you _ instead, maybe that will teach you not to take your privilege for granted." 

Izona squeaked, shaking her head as her master dropped her back onto the ground, to which Eia just laughed. 

"Besides, I'm not going to spank you, Izona, it's not much of a punishment if you like it. I didn't think I'd need to say it, but less time with me  **_is_ ** your punishment, it just appears that your stupid buffalo brain is to  **_small_ ** to realize that." Eia sighed, turning her attention back towards her other bride. "Have fun tonight, girls. I expect you to drop Brinia off at my door for bed, regardless of whatever sniveling mess you might have reduced her to."

"Where will I be sleeping tonight, Ma'am…" Izona bit her lip, lowering her head in shame.

"Anywhere else in the den, I expect you to behave if you want to continue being my handmaiden~" Eia leaned down very briefly, giving Izona a kiss on the forehead, a sign of affection that Brinia very much wished she would receive from the wendigo, but didn't. "I love you, Izona. Don't break my new toy." 

"I love you too, Master." Izona smiled up at her. Brinia didn't usually get jealous seeing others in love, but she really did wish she could receive that kind of affection from Eia. 

↞✶↠

Eia made her way back to her own private chamber, where one of her other brides presumably waited for her, leaving the other two women alone. 

“So, I know I said I would have my fun with you tonight, but-” Izona led Brinia back to the den, sitting down on top of the tree stump which their den mother often sat upon, carelessly claiming it as her own for the night. “I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to do this now or not.”

Brinia thought it over for a few moments, trying to decide what she wanted to do.

What she wanted more than anything was to just turn tail here and now, and flee back to the village to see her family, but there was no way for that to happen without also causing Eia to brutally murder all of them. She needed to keep her people safe, which meant getting on Eia’s good side. 

She wanted to join Eia in bed tonight, to prove to her that she was good enough. It was unlikely for her to be able to do so if she went through with whatever Izona had planned for her, but Izona was clearly being reasonable about it. 

Izona would have to get her chance eventually, and Eia wanted for all of her brides to be able to have their own fun with Brinia. 

“Now is as good a time as ever, I suppose…” She wasn’t happy about it, but she was going to do it. If only because she needed to figure something out before having a moment alone with Eia. She had one question on her mind, and she needed to know the answer before she could have sex with her master. “Should we go inside first?”

“Here is just fine, I think.” Izona smiled at her, flashing her a bit of that smug expression that she loved to give. “I said we would play outside didn’t I?”

“You want to have sex out here?” 

“I never said we were going to have sex~” Izona smirked, shaking her head at her poor precious little sister. “I just want to humiliate you.”

“You what?” Brinia looked away from her as fast as she could, trying to preemptively hide her soon to be pink face before Izona got the chance to see her blush, expecting the look on her face to give her away.

“It’s better than physically torturing you, at least in my book.” Brinia couldn’t see Izona speak with her head turned away, but she could hear the giantess giggle, which only worsened the look on her face. 

“How do you plan on…  **humiliating me** ?” There it was, the question that was on the forefront of Brinia’s mind.  _ Do I enjoy being humiliated after all? _

“Bring me the stick, and we’ll play fetch~” Izona growled seductively, as if the idea of playing humiliating little games with her was going to be enough to send Brinia’s running to her side like an eager puppy. 

“Please don’t treat the Hollow’s Heart like a  **toy** , Izona…” Fuck, the idea did actually sound kind of… fun. It was an awful dreadful thought, and Brinia did not want to subject herself to that kind of humiliation in a million plus years.  _ But… _

“We play fetch today or we don’t play at all.” Izona delivered her an ultimatum. “Well… I’m going to play fetch with you eventually, but it’s your choice if you want it to be tonight or not.”

_ Fuck. I have to.  _ Brinia bit her bottom lip, internally berating herself for being so reluctantly eager to roleplay as Izona’s dog… just like Eia had.

_ Eia did it. It’s fine, that means I can do it too. _ Of course she knew that Eia was a little bit different, the wendigo was clearly flustered that she was caught doing it, but that was where the wendigo had originally come from. She started off as Izona’s pet, it was nothing new or genuinely humiliating for her. 

The fact still remained, Brinia hated the idea of doing this, and that was what made this so exciting for her to think about. She didn’t want her image to be shattered, but she very much did want to be humiliated. 

“Put the staff in your mouth and then crawl over here.” Izona presumed that Brinia had already made up her mind and was just being fussy about it, rather than genuinely protesting the act itself.

_ Alright fine, whatever.  _ Brinia sighed, still looking away from Izona. “When you say crawl, what do you mean?”

“On all fours, like a dog.” Izona giggled eagerly, knowing that she’d broken through Brinia’s barky skin. “That means hands and knees~”

“I hate you a lot for this, I want you to know that.” Brinia slowly lowered herself to her knees, not yet wanting to look at the sitting giantess. 

“You’re just making this harder for yourself~”

“Hnnnghh…” Brinia sighed, pulling the staff from her hip and placing it in her mouth, between her teeth.  _ Why couldn’t she just come over here and turn the glyph on before we start? _

Izona watched the dryad slowly but surely crawl to her feet, keeping her head down even as she arrived at the tree stump, the staff hanging from her mouth. The giantess smiled, holding her hand out under her sister’s face, sighing to herself as she spoke. “Give~”

Brinia opened her mouth, letting go of the staff and watching it gently fall into Izona’s bandaged palm, still keeping her head down as she refused to give Izona the satisfaction of seeing the shame on her face. “The glyph, please.”

Gray, Yellow, Cyan, Blue. That wasn’t even close to a full color palette. She could see the colorful glows in the dark of the evening, she was over halfway done, and that meant her former rainbow was little more than just a splotch of colors on her chest. 

“Okay okay, I’m getting to it.” Izona reached down, putting her hand under Brinia’s chin as she tried to reach the glyph, but kept getting irked by the girl’s hair hanging down in the way. “Look up~”

Brinia said nothing, shaking her head slightly as she kept her head down, her head staying motionless.  _ I’m not going to let you think that I’m enjoying this. _

“Fucking-” Izona growled slightly, really genuinely trying not to bash her head into the dryad’s wooden skull like a buffalo. “Before I break your neck trying to do it myself, please.”

Brinia swallowed, at least she tried to, but her pride got stuck in her throat, preventing her from moving any further. Brinia was scared, but she wasn’t scared of Izona like she had been when she first met the pseudo-giant three days ago, she was scared of Izona seeing her blush. She didn’t want the giantess to realize that she liked this. She didn’t want Izona to find out about something intimate like that. 

But it was too late to try and hide her shame from the other girl. Brinia squeaked in fear, seeing Izona reach down and yank her head upwards, but not by going for her throat. Izona grabbed her by her hair, jerking her head back, forcing Brinia to make eye contact with her big sister. 

The dryad felt a whimper slipping through her lips, staring directly into Izona’s face, able to see the fearsome blush on her cheeks even in the reflection of herself in the giant’s eyes. She was going to have a hell of a time trying to explain that away. 

Izona grinned hungrily, smelling the sweet scent of the dryad’s drooling cunt as Alistora felt the first bit of sweet sap drip out of the blooming little flower between her legs, gently running down her thigh before falling to the forest floor below. 

“Looks like someone’s going through some self discovery, isn’t she?” Izona grinned mischievously, licking her own lips as she brought the dryad’s blushing lips to them, forcing herself upon the flush faced forest faerie, sucking her sister’s shame into the smooch itself, letting it heat the breath between them as they shared it.

_ I am going to die tonight. If this doesn’t kill me first, I am going to kill myself. _ Brinia felt the hot breath being sucked back inside of her as Izona pulled away, letting her finally inhale enough air to breathe with. That fiery red blush on her yellow skin had not faded away in the slightest, and Izona knew exactly what the dryad’s flushing face was all about. 

“I’m not sure if I’ll even need the glyph tonight~” Izona picked one foot up off of the ground, rubbing it along the inside of Alistora’s thigh, helping the dryad feel all of the wet droplets running down her legs. “Maybe I should save that for a later date?”

“N-no!!” Brinia practically shouted at her, biting her lip angrily to keep her from biting Izona’s head off. “I swear on Eia’s life, Izona. It’s the glyph or nothing…” 

Izona snarled in annoyance hearing the disrespect in Alistora’s voice, grinding her relatively flat pseudo-giant teeth together to prevent her from doing much the same thing that Brinia was struggling to keep herself from doing, lunging forward and tearing the other girl’s throat with what fangs she did have. 

“Just don’t tell Master, please…” Brinia coughed, once again struggling as she finally swallowed the pride that had gotten stuck in her throat. “I want to tell her myself…”

Izona wanted to spit in the dryad’s face, but this time she had the self control to stop herself from doing so. “Bark.”

“Aarrrf!!!” The blush on Brinia’s face just got worse as she let the sound escape her mouth.

“No more tree bark… just dog barks~” Izona’s face calmed down just a little bit as she smiled eagerly, reaching down and putting her finger to the glyph. “Command phrase.”

“Please play with me, big sister!! I’ll behave, I swear!! Let me be your little lap dog and we’ll have lots of fun!! I may act ferocious, but I don’t bite, I promise!!”

Those words came out a lot easier than Brinia wanted them too, but she was very much desperate for it. Still, those words in specific weren’t words that Eia could have planned for ahead of time, it was almost like they came directly from the dryad herself.

_ Oh no… Those are  _ **_my_ ** _ words aren’t they? _

“Go fetch, girl.” The blue glyph began to glow, and before Brinia even had time to straighten out her thoughts, she watched Izona toss the staff into the clearing. “No hands, or I spank you~”

“Yes, big sister…” Brinia turned in place, feeling her body beginning to crawl into the forest, desperately chasing after her toy. No, it was more like her body and brain were chasing the delightful feelings of willfully allowing herself to be humiliated, letting herself feel humiliated. 

The Hollow’s Heart was a priceless artifact for sure. But right here and now, it was nothing more than a toy to Brinia, the object which she was to fetch. The magical properties of wooden staff were locked away from her anyways, and she was too overcome to even attempt to use it as a weapon. The only way that the staff would be getting used as a bludgeon tonight was if Izona decided to spank her with it, and that just meant the dryad needed to behave.

She picked it up in her mouth, clenching it between her teeth once again. She didn’t care if it was filthy, she didn’t care where it had landed, she wasn’t allowed to use her hands to pick it up, and knowing what all might be on the handle would just make this harder for her. 

Brinia was notably less nimble and a whole lot less quick than Eia. But she was happy to see the smile on Izona’s face seeing her slowly but surely make her way back to the giantess’ feet on all fours, her cheeks just as red as they were when she had left as she dropped the toy into Izona’s waiting hand once again. “Here…” 

“Good girl~” Izona taunted her with it, twirling the staff in her hand as she smirked. “Want me to throw it again?”

“Yes, please~” Brinia whined desperately, wanting nothing more than to continue chasing that rush of happy bubbles in her brain. “Please throw it again, big sis…”

“Someone’s more than eager to humiliate herself, right?” Izona reached out, scratching Brinia on top of the head. “Spin in a little circle for me~”

_ Gods, fuck you Izona… fuck you so much. _ Brinia couldn’t so much as form words to protest before she had already relented, pawing around in a little circle before putting herself at Izona’s feet again.

And then she was off, as soon as Izona tossed the precious artifact back into the woods, Brinia was on her way to retrieve it, returning even quicker this time.

“Atta girl~” Izona grinned devilishly, extending her leg outward and placing her foot on the back of Brinia’s head, forcing her downwards. “Lay down and roll over.”

Brinia whimpered loudly, doing exactly what Izona asked of her, rolling over fully and looking back up at the giantess for approval. She was glad to see that Izona very much approved. “Eia never rolled over for me, just so you know~”

“That’s n-not helping…” 

“Sure I’m not… you’re even more pathetic than you thought~”

Izona threw the staff, and Brinia fetched it. Back and forth. Back and forth. Brinia only had so much energy, especially after being played with so much today, and Izona knew when she was just about to her limit. 

But she didn’t want the poor little thing to go unrewarded~

“Someone’s getting tired huh?” Izona smiled, taking the staff from Brinia’s mouth one last time. 

She had a point, Brinia was huffing and puffing, struggling to catch her breath, but it wasn’t just exhaustion that was getting to her, it was also heat. “I can keep going…”

Brinia wanted to keep going, not because she was having fun playing fetch, but because her brain kept telling her to chase the rush of humiliation that came from doing so. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to play a different game?” Izona placed the staff on her back, smiling down at the desperate dryad. 

_ A different game?  _ Brinia watched Izona scoot forward slightly, making the dryad’s little flower drip excitedly as she spread her legs. 

Izona smirked, patting her thigh and beckoning for Brinia to climb into her lap, which she promptly did. “Someone’s in heat, isn’t she?”

“How’d you guess?” Brinia bit her lip in flustered rage, placing her hands on Izona’s shoulders and nervously looking up at her as she straddled the giantess’ right thigh. “…May I?”

“Hump away, girl.” Izona smiled, grabbing Brinia by the hips and sliding her across her own leg, feeling her drip pollen onto her bluish grey skin. 

Brinia whimpered happily, feeling a rush of pleasure tingle its way up and down her spine, causing her hips to buck, humping Izona’s leg. “Fuck…”

“Isn’t that a lot better than getting bent over and finger fucked?” Izona smiled, helping the dryad along by holding a tight grip on Alistora’s hips. “Don’t you just want to give in~”

Brinia knew that this wasn’t just the trance, but she wasn’t about to admit that. No, she kept her head down, taking deep breaths in and out as she rubbed the lips of her flower against the other woman’s skin, letting out small sighs and gasps through her lips as she breathed out. Something like this was a curse to Brinia… she didn’t want to be having consensual sex with Izona Killtree, but that was basically what she was doing, the only thing keeping her pride from collapsing in on itself was knowing that the only thing making this possible was Eia’s magical trance. 

Izona lifted her leg slightly, making Brinia squeak with pleasure, feeling her vulva suddenly being pressed against by an extremely strong woman. This surely wasn’t what Brinia was expecting when she agreed to give herself up to Eia, leg humping a pseudo-giant in the middle of the woods, desperately trying to bring herself and only herself to orgasm. 

But she wanted this so badly. 

Brinia shook her head, whimpering and panting under her breath, making sounds that even she could only describe as moans. Fuck, this felt good. 

“Almost there, sis~” Izona smiled, squeezing the other girl’s hips as she did everything she could to help the dryad hump her way to an orgasm. 

Brinia nodded her head and moaned quietly, her voice shaking as she hung her head in shame, cheeks red and covered in humiliated tears as she broke down and came, squirting sweet liquids onto her sister’s thigh as she orgasmed. 

It was the most subtle and sensual orgasm that she had experienced since she’d arrived, there was no force or harshness to it, which was surprising considering who she was having sex with. “Izona…”

“Yes, Brinia?” Izona smirked, reaching out and deactivating the glyph keeping Brinia trapped in this state, letting the other girl ride out her orgasm on her leg, not even doing so much as forcing her to lift her shamefully blissful face up to look at her. 

“Thank you-” She shook her head, pushing past the remaining shards of her trance. “Thank you for this…”

“You’ve had a hell of a day, huh?” Izona snickered, gently running her fingers through the dryad’s hair as she rubbed her sister’s head.

Brinia only nodded, letting the faint glow of the three remaining glyphs on her collarbone do the talking for her.

“Let’s get you inside, then?” Izona stood, moving her hand from Brinia’s head back to her hips and then down to her thighs, picking her up and holding her sister to her chest as she carried the dryad back inside of the den.

It was humiliating for Brinia to be carried inside by another woman, especially one who was physically smaller than her, but she supposed that it was only fair for her day to end like this, as a humiliating husk of her former self was carried back inside to her master’s door, limp in her sisters arms. 

“Looks like you two must have had fun~” Eia opened up the door to her chamber, looking down at the pair of girls, as Izona gently handed Brinia over to her master. The dryad had fallen asleep, collapsing from exhaustion in Izona’s arms during the short walk back inside, and being physically handed over to the wendigo wasn’t enough to wake her. “How did she do?”

“She did great, Master.” Izona grinned proudly, her hands on her hips. “I think watching you play fetch really helped her.”

“Oh you~” Eia scoffed, rolling her eyes at her bride. “Leave it up to my clever little handler to come up with a stunt like that~”

“Thank you, Master!!” Izona blushed, purring happily under her breath the instant she began to receive praise from her owner. 

“And no injuries today either.” Eia smiled, sighing to herself as she examined the dryad’s body. “I truly don’t deserve a bride like you, my beloved.”

“Then I certainly don’t deserve you, Ma’am.” Izona blushed, thinking back to when she and her master first met. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me…”

“And you me…” Eia turned back into her chamber, setting sleeping beauty down onto the bed next to her other snoring bride before heading back to Izona. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, after all.”

“I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time is all, Ma’am.” Izona blushed, lowering her head in embarrassment.

“Is that what you call it?” Eia smiled, crouching down slightly so that she could make herself eye level with her giantess’ bride. “I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t freed me from Ollik’s cage.”

“But you were the one who killed him, I wouldn’t ever have been freed from Ollik’s grasp if you hadn’t…” Izona blushed, peering into the room past her wendigo master, smiling at the sight of two of her sisters asleep in bed. “Besides, you came to save me from the hobgoblins when they took me away, so… we’re more than even.”

“I suppose that’s one way you can put it.” Eia frowned, looking down at Izona’s bandaged hand. “Did one of my kits bite you, dear?”

“Oh!!” Izona clutched it to her chest, glancing inside of the chamber at the sleeping Noriza, smiling at the thought that the yeti, of all people, gave birth to such a large batch of Eia’s pups. “This is nothing, Ma’am… I’ve suffered worse with Ollik’s pets.”

“With me, you mean?” Eia smiled tenderly, unwrapping Izona’s bandaged hand slowly and carefully. “I can’t just let my kits get away with that, it’s  **my** job after all~”

“Yeah but they’re Noriza’s, Ma’am…” Izona smiled, watching her master lift her injured hand. “I still can’t believe Noriza has come this far since Ollik died…” 

“I’ll take that as you complimenting my magical prowess… I did give her a pretty perfect body after all, now hush.” Eia brought Izona’s hand to her face, placing a gentle kiss on the flipside of the giantess’ palm, and watching her natural faerie healing magic begin to take its course, starting to heal her bride’s injuries. 

“One more kiss goodnight, Ma’am?”

“Always~” 

Eia smiled lovingly, pulling Izona to her and pressing her lips into the pseudo-giant’s, delivering another magically charged kiss to her very first bride, embracing her with more love and affection than Ollik ever had. 

“I love you, Eia.”

“And I love you, Izona.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do people like the backstory flashbacks for the other girls?   
> i'm wondering if i should continue doing them or not?


	12. Out of Order

Brinia slowly shook herself awake, finding herself not only in her master’s bed, but in her master’s arms.

“Good morning, Alistora.”

Any light that could be found in Brinia’s eyes was quickly sucked away into her black hole of despair, as she fumbled with words in her chest, trying to force herself to come up with the right response, regurgitating it back out at the vile wendigo as miserably as possible. “Good morning, Master…”

Brinia winced, pinching her eyes closed as tightly as she could, feeling Eia’s claws gliding over her leafy yellow skin, forcing the dryad onto her side, facing towards her master than away from her. She was vulnerable, lying naked in Eia’s arms, able to feel the cruel grasp of the fiend’s hand behind her, gently rubbing her back. 

The wendigo had her claws protracted, and any moment she could cut into the fae spirit’s poor flesh, slicing it down like she was grass. It was like her master was holding a scythe to her neck, getting ready to trim her down and harvest her like a crop. That’s what she was to her, her crop, her livestock, her property. It was impossible to relax into the fiend’s arms when she knew that she was willing and eager to split her open and suck out her juices like she was a tomato.

But Eia didn’t seem to mind at all, if anything, she enjoyed seeing the discomfort on the dryad’s face as she was helplessly toyed with. So she continued, gently scratching at Brinia’s skin, not hard enough to draw blood, but definitely hard enough to cause pain. If just her claws could get to her to flinch, then there was no imagining what she could do to the former guardian’s ego with everything else at her disposal. 

Brinia had come to a realization about herself, she didn’t like this. She had allowed herself to experience humiliation at Izona’s hands, and although it most certainly was a turn on for her, she hated it. There was a difference between being turned on by something, and genuinely enjoying it. She found that her body viewed being degraded and humiliated and enslaved as a turn on, but it was not something that she enjoyed doing.

“C-can I help you, Miss?” Brinia had to force more words out of her mouth, wanting desperately to bite her tongue off and swallow it, killing herself before her body could heal her. But the words turned out to be so forced that they sounded a lot more disrespectful than they ought to have been. It was a disgruntled accusation rather than a genuine show of willingness to offer her service to her mistress.

“I’m having fun just laying here, aren’t I?” Eia wasn’t in the mood to put the dryad over her knees, not just yet. She was having too much fun just making her uncomfortable. Besides, she had only just gotten finished tormenting one of her unruly brides. 

Brinia scoffed, not even bothering to answer the wendigo’s question, knowing that any words she did manage to spit out were going to sound the same. Instead, she did her best to avert her eyes from those of her cruel overlord, landing her gaze on the sleeping bride on Eia’s other side. 

“Is she okay?” Noriza looked like she had gotten the shit kicked out of her, and she had, Brinia just didn’t know it. Neither did she know that Noriza had been asleep when Izona had delivered the unconscious dryad to Eia’s arms, and the fact that she was still asleep after Brinia had woken up just went to show how bad the yeti woman was hurting, and she was hurting. 

Although the yeti certainly looked terrible, for all of the injuries on Noriza’s body, the chamber around them looked much worse. There seemed to have been some sort of violent struggle in here, at least at first glance. Maybe Noriza’s love for her master didn’t run as deep as Alistora thought it had… there was clearly more to her fur covered sister that she didn’t know about. 

“This place is a mess.”

It was a simple innocent observation, really, at least Brinia thought it was. But it was that comment that earned her a painful slash in her back, as Eia dug a single claw into her skin and sliced through her leafy exterior like she was grass. 

Brinia didn’t shriek or let out any exclamation of pain, she had felt much worse, even before becoming one of Eia’s slaves. She did let out an exclamation of apology, realizing her mistake and seeking to fix it. “S-sorry… that was out of line.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, it was.” Eia neither smiled nor frowned as she simply basked in the dryad’s expression as she tried to hold her tongue and hide her pain at once, feeling the wendigo trace the now bleeding scratch on her back with the tip of one finger, pressing on the injury to make it sting even harder. 

Eia’s chamber was definitely in shambles, but Brinia should know better than to point that out to her. Eia was her master after all. “It won’t ha- happen again.”

“It had better not.” Eia sighed, looking down at the rings of her left hand. “I’ll call for Marima to come clean it up.”

“That won’t be necessary, Ma’am.” Brinia quickly sat up, bringing herself to a kneeling position. The dryad was doing her best to show respect now, so as to keep herself from earning another slash to her back. But she was also using this opportunity not only to pry herself away from the devil woman’s arms, but to also pull herself away from the stinging pain of Eia rubbing her fingertips along the wound. “I’ll clean up for you.”

“You’ll do as I say, actually.” Her pathetic attempt at escaping Eia’s grasp didn’t even deserve a snarl. The wendigo simply reached her right hand behind the dryad and curled her fingers around the back of her collar.

Brinia couldn’t keep herself from wincing, the breath leaving her lungs as she felt the wendigo’s sharpened deadly skewers grazing the skin of her neck. But Brinia knew better than to fight back as Eia pulled her directly back into position, lying on her side beside Eia’s torso as the wendigo uncurled her fingers from her collar and placed her hand once again on the skin of the faerie’s exposed back. “I did say I was having fun just laying here, after all.”

Right. Brinia should know better than to try and phrase anything as a statement, her words still climbing their way out of the sheer wall of Brinia’s throat, arriving as disrespectful statements rather than submissive hums and haws. 

Brinia could and should be doing better, but after being so mercilessly humiliated last night, she was desperate to cling to any remaining shred of dignity she had left. 

“ _May I_ clean your chamber for you, Master?” That sounded a little bit better, but it was still forced and uncomfortable, coming from a place of spite rather than a place of eagerness. Now she just sounded like she was sarcastically mocking the wendigo. 

“I can and will… **cuddle** with you for as long as you’d like, Miss… but once I’m done I’m willing to clean up after my sister.” There you go, Alistora. That sounded a lot better, save for that awkward pause where she, like a dragon choking back a fiery cough of demise, had to swallow her words before she ruined the whole thing. Bonus points for painting Noriza as the cause of the mess, rather than her master. 

“I thought you were a doctor, not a housekeeper.” Eia continued to gently scratch at Brinia’s gentle and soft skin, feeling her natural healing powers close the minor wound beneath her touch. 

“I’m neither, Ma’am. You don’t need a housekeeper, you have slaves.” Brinia took a deep breath, trying to push aside her dignity and self-respect without having to swallow it like she was so frequently finding herself having to with her words. 

“I don’t mind at- at all, Ma’am. You have… me, and that’s what I am… so… I’m… more than willing… t-to clean up.” She found herself having to stop more and more as she continued, unable to bear the shame of calling herself a slave, unable to reduce herself any further than she already had these last few days. She was gagging on just about every word, and it was getting more and more obvious how unfruitful her struggle was going to turn out to be. “To… to help clean up… to help you… a-after Noriza… a-and after you.”

“Don’t make yourself puke, slave.” Eia could tell how lost Brinia was getting in her sentence there, putting an end to whatever it was that the dryad was trying to get at. Alistora honestly couldn’t help but be grateful that her owner went ahead and silenced her before she made an even bigger fool of herself, at least now she’s not going to accidentally vomit her pride and dignity out of her body completely. “I don’t want you making an even bigger mess for yourself to clean up.”

“So- so you’ll let me clean?” Brinia let out a sigh of relief, slowly regaining her composure just in time to stop herself from spewing her guts out like a dragon spewed out flames. “I really don’t mind if you’re messy… I can clean up after you… you can be as messy as you want-”

“Alistora.” Brinia felt a sharp intake of breath enter her body as Eia once again tightened her grip around the back of her collar, holding her breath to keep her owner from seeing her gasp. “Stop talking before you lose what little progress you’ve made. 

Eia didn’t want to cuddle anymore, and Brinia couldn’t help but suppose that that was her fault. It was honestly more pathetic to watch herself try and cling to the idea of still being allowed some dignity than it was to watch her roll over and play fetch for her sister. But Eia was right, and when she was right it was possible for the dryad slave to genuinely listen to what she was saying. 

So she listened, nodding her head as she let Eia lift her back up by her collar, setting her back down on her knees. “I’m sorry…” 

“You want to make yourself useful to me, don’t you?” Eia was a cruel and evil woman, but that didn’t change the fact that she wanted her new slave to succeed. 

Said slave simply hung her head in defeat, nodding in affirmation as she felt her fiendish ruler retract her sharp clawed paw away from her. 

“You’re to clean up my chamber to the best of your ability, as you’ve insisted on doing. Then, if she so wishes, you’ll serve your sister in whatever capacity you’re capable of doing.” Eia waved her hand, pointing out the messy state the chamber was currently in before gesturing to Noriza, and the bed below her. 

“Noriza will be able to open the door, once she’s done with you, she will leave. You are to remain here, in my chamber, presenting yourself to me for the rest of your day… make things easier for yourself by lying prostrate on the bed, facing the wall, I expect your tailside to be facing me as I walk through the door.” Eia left Brinia there as she slowly picked herself up, climbing off of the bed. Making her way over to her wardrobe and vanity to make herself ready for the day.

“All you need do is hold yourself in that position for as long as you can, waiting for me. Nothing more, nothing less. No need to make things more difficult for yourself, or search for some other way to please me… holding yourself in a submissive position is enough, don’t get ahead of yourself.” Eia’s naked body was still only vaguely familiar to Brinia, even as she watched her dress herself. There was still something alien about her as she moved, something that set her apart from the other women, aside from just her appearance. 

“You’re a stubborn and pig-headed slave. I know you’ll feel useless just lying there and waiting, but you can withstand boredom, I am confident in that… just do as I say and stay there, you’re a disciplined warrior, and I expect you to feel useless lying there and exposing your naked body when you could be out doing something else. But that feeling of uselessness will bring me great pleasure.” Brinia was told to stay quiet so she did, listening to Eia as she continued. 

“You live to serve me, as my pleasure is what you live for, so I expect you to be waiting for my return. I will know whether or not you’re in position, make sure your posture is correct, still, and submissive.” Brinia was slowly seeing the difference. The other women may have confidence, but they don’t have the sort of dominance Eia wore with ease. It made all the difference when it came to how she carried herself. The dryad could see in her master’s movements just how powerful she was. 

“Clean the chamber to the best of your ability of course, but don’t fret about making it perfect, I don’t expect perfection. You don’t know where everything goes, so just put things where you feel is appropriate. You’re new at this, so I repeat, I do **not** expect perfection… for today, I will be satisfied with obedience.” Eia turned to face her, staring down at her as she approached, a bundle of things in her hand as she stood over the dryad. “Do you think you can handle all of that?”

Brinia’s face was covered with misery and despair, unable to bring herself to smile. She herself always held herself to the highest standard, but she was no longer in control. Eia was the one giving the commands, so it was up to her to set the standards. If she was to hold herself to her own standards, she might have made an even more desperate fool of herself by trying and failing to force a smile onto her face.

But Eia would settle for obedience, and Brinia supposed that her master would also settle for an angry, miserable, and reluctant scowl, biting her lip as she frowned and nodded in submission. 

“Demonstrate the position for me before I leave, so that I know you’re capable of it.” Brinia was offended that the wendigo didn’t think she was capable of anything at all. But the dryad was willing, if quite reluctant, to demonstrate the pose for the other woman, letting Eia lay her deadly paws on her body to make the desired changes to her posture. “Just like that, remember to stretch occasionally if it does get too unbearable. Now sit up and hold still while I attach your restraints.”

Brinia sat back up once she had memorized the pose, glancing up at the other woman as she sat down and started fiddling with all sorts of different bonds. Normally she would argue against the use of restraints on her, claiming she was submissive enough not to need them, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t submissive enough to be able to claim that she didn’t need or deserve to be chained and restrained, and she was far more than just tired and upset.

Brinia Alistora tried so hard all the time, but for once it felt like a relief to be directed step by step, forced to let her master make things as easy as possible for her. She didn’t know whether she was allowed to speak, but Eia did not yet expect perfection from her, not like she so often expected from herself. “May I ask you something?”

Eia sat beside the dryad on the bed, nodding for her to go ahead as she clasped cuffs to each of Brinia’s wrists and ankles, before fastening a leash to the head of her collar. “You may, but I can’t promise you an answer.”

“Why do you do what you do? Why do you keep so many slaves… why do you keep slaves in the first place?” Brinia lifted her chin as she allowed her master easier access to her collar. “You know how I feel about it already, and I’m not trying to pass judgement. I just want to know… why?”

“Since this is a moral argument for you, you should know that my own morals are far different than that of most creatures… to me, slavery is not only acceptable, it’s expected.” Eia pulled on the leash, making sure it wasn’t coming off before lifting her hand. Brinia watched helplessly as the Hollow’s Heart flew directly into the wendigo’s paw, a sign of her master’s dominance over her. 

“On the most basic of levels, this is how I am hardwired to be… you and I _feel_ things differently. You only feel sexual desire for those you hold close to you romantically.” She held the staff out in front of Brinia, making sure she saw it.

“I on the other hand… I need several brides to feel fulfilled. Not just because I need to breed, or even because I desire sexual release. But because I am naturally built to force myself onto those I love…” Eia dropped the other end of Brinia’s rather long leash onto the floor at the foot of her bed. 

“I need submission from my women. When I’ve set my eyes on someone, I will unfailingly make them mine. I will make them a part of my love whether they like it or not, and they need not return that love if they don’t wish to… as long as they are submissive, I will be satisfied.” Eia spun the staff in her hand slightly, before pointing it downwards and staking the end of Brinia’s leash to the floor. 

“You can only feel sexual attraction to those whom you love… so don’t get ahead of yourself and make things uncomfortable, you’ll only end up making things worse. I need not be the object of your sexual desire, or even your love, to be satisfied… I will settle for your submission.” Eia scowled sternly, gently lifting Brinia’s lowered head upwards to face her. 

“Whether you like it or not, you already belong to me, and that should be enough for you… just as you shouldn’t be expected to feel sexual pleasure towards those whom you’ve only just met, I should not be expected to love you like I love my other brides.” Eia gently let go of Brinia’s face, rising to her feet once more. 

“I should not be expected to treat you like a beloved family member, because you aren’t one, just as how I will not hold you to the same standards to which I hold my other brides, because I shouldn’t expect you to be capable of performing like they are capable of performing.”

Brinia’s heart sunk. She wanted to just discount Eia as being a cruel ruthless monster. But she was patient, fair, and understanding. It made her blood boil to know that she was right. 

“Now that does not mean that I will not demand sexual acts from you, or exploit you for sexual favors, because I will. You belong to me and I expect you to submit and give me whatever it is that I demand… but I will not expect you to enjoy it, and I will not expect you to push yourself further than you need to go, you have a lot of lives riding on this performance, so don’t fail me again like you did yesterday.” 

Brinia hung her head in defeat, still thoroughly ashamed of her own performance the previous day. “So you are upset…”

“My emotions are quite different from your emotions, though I do have a vague sense of… upset. But that’s not in any way a descriptor I would use to rate my feelings towards your performance last night.” Eia paused for a moment, pondering over the right words to use to describe whatever it was she was feeling. “Think more along the lines of… disappointed, I suppose.”

Brinia nodded her head, not wanting to push the issue any further than it needed to go. Silently letting herself be subjugated, accepting her fate.

“I would like to feed you tonight.” 

Brinia was caught off guard. It was such a sudden change of topic that she couldn’t help but feel like the rug was being yanked out from beneath her. 

“You haven’t eaten in three days, and I would like to change that.” Eia, still being patient, was making this even easier for her by offering her an incentive for succeeding. “But I will not waste precious resources on ungrateful slaves who neither know their place, nor seek to truly and properly serve their master.” 

Eia gently tapped her feet, looking down at the quite distraught dryad below. “You would like to eat, wouldn’t you?”

“If you would like to feed me… I would like to be fed, I wouldn’t go against your desires.” Brinia swallowed nervously. “I won’t make you handfeed me this time, I promise… unless that’s what you want.”

“Right answer.” Eia smirked, giving Brinia a gentle pat on the head to show that she was satisfied. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to tend to your sisters~”

↞✶↠

So Eia made her leave, setting the dryad off on her own to clean her master’s chamber, as she gently closed the door behind her so as to not wake the still sleeping Noriza. 

_That girl is going to be the death of me._

As much as Eia would have liked to spend more time with Brinia, she was in charge around here, and she needed to make sure that everything was in working order. She had a million things on her mind, and though the dryad was at the forefront of them all, she still had to deal with the rest of them. 

Brinia wasn’t the only one struggling to adjust. Her life, along with the lives of all of her brides, had been thrown into chaos.

“Lady Protector Eia Madaerie, huh?” It, like many other things, was just a title. But it was a title that meant something to a lot of people. 

The title _‘Lady Protector’_ was the one given to the leader of the village of Thorn. It had become little more than that, being passed along from leader to leader over the years, but it had to start somewhere. 

Zawdra Nightingale was not the first Lady Protector, of course. 

Though she wouldn’t remember it now, the first Lady Protector, all those decades and decades and decades and decades ago… was Brinia Alistora. 

The creation of the village of Thorn, so it goes, revolved completely and totally around the dryad protector of the Eternal Hollow. 

She had a cabin in the village, but even that was a little weird. She has always been one with the forest, and she could certainly survive without a roof over her head, like she once had. But Brinia Alistora liked to live at the very very physical center of the Eternal Hollow.

If one tried to pinpoint the center of the forest, they would find that clearing, and so people flocked there. People flocked to her for her protection. People started to build around that clearing, and that’s how the village of Thorn was formed. 

With Brinia Alistora as their Lady Protector. 

Not Eia Madaerie, not Zawdra Nightingale. Brinia Alistora.

But speaking of Zawdra Nightingale. 

Eia grunted under her breath, taking her mask and tossing it like a throwing knife, watching it stab itself into the wall of the grand chamber, but not before hearing the gargoyle woman shriek as it just barely flew over her shoulder. 

“How in the nine hells did you even get into my den?”

“I- I-” Zawdra stammered for a few moments before regaining her composure, flying down to the den floor below and finding herself at Eia’s feet. “I just came in through the front door. I’m not here to cause trouble-”

“Right. Cerilla.” Eia sighed in exasperation, she was going to need to keep a closer eye on who her den mother lets in through those doors. “Out with it then, why are you here?”

“Well… I did what you said, or rather, what you did… and had her appointed as one of the quartermasters, but…” Zawdra took a moment to clear her throat, looking down at Eia’s feet, kneeling like a proper soldier. “Well, when I told them that you were the Lady Protect… the other quartermasters, they didn’t take the news so well…”

“I- wh- ah- ugh did you expect it to go any better?!” Eia let what sounded like a mangled stream of syllables out of her mouth before being able to provide a response. “They’ve practically worshipped Alistora for generations, of course they don’t like me!!” 

“I didn’t know what to expect, Eia-”

“And the quartermasters, I expect they didn’t take well to having one of them be replaced in favor of my den mother.”

“That went over just fine, actually…” Zawdra sighed. “Kouzonn completely resigned once he found out that you were in charge.”

“Oh great!! I’m glad I haven’t **inconvenienced** anyone.” Eia scoffed, snarling at her newest underlings incompetence under her breath. “I don’t exactly know who this Kouzonn is, but it sounds like he’s now a non-issue. So, who does that leave?”

“Well, Cerilla of course…” Zawdra went on to name the quartermasters. “Rahllita Zoowelsck, Yerb Talltale, and Eldrian Darkstyle.”

“Right, that should make things easier for me.” Eia held out her hand, summoning her mask back to her palm in just an instant. “Well, you can go right on ahead and tell Rahllita that I hope she’s enjoying life away from the snake lady, let Yerb know that Lionheart sends her regards, and make sure to alert Darkstyle that if they ever wants to see dear Arleena again, that I expect her beloved Montemaster to find its way back into her precious little hands, and soon.”

“Arleena?” Zawdra went wide-eyed just hearing the name. “Arleena is **dead**.”

“Arleena **is** dead. But she is also here, she should be cooking dinner right about now, but she is definitely here.” Eia continued, trying to get the message through to her. “As is Marima Lionheart, Iznittet Tishula, Kulgrant Zaikana, Izona Killtree, Noriza Strongarm, and **Brinia Alistora**.”

“That’s quite a collection you’ve got there. I…” Zawdra was simultaneously disgusted and impressed by the assortment. “What… are you?”

“Busy. Busy is what I am.” Eia put one hand to Zawdra’s back much like she had with Brinia, and gave her a small shove towards the door. “Now you can go and tell your little council of four, or the quartermasters, or whatever they like to call themselves that if they really have a problem, I will meet with them… peacefully… I suppose, but I will have to meet with them **later**.”

“I… I suppose I can do that.” Zawdra sighed, seeing no other real options to pursue. 

“That’s more like it.” Eia smiled eagerly, half-sarcastically, but eagerly. “Now be a good girl and behave for Cerilla. Oh, and report back to me on her behavior so that I can keep her in line as well.”

“I’m not a slave, Madaerie.”

“You are what I say you are, all of you.” Eia shouted at her, trying to make sure that she and her entire village knew their place. “If I wanted to make everyone in the village of Thorn my **slave** , I would be well within my rights to do so~!!”

Zawdra’s face morphed into a reluctantly enraged scowl. “You’re the Lady Protector…” 

“That I am, now please…” Eia clipped her mask back to her belt, pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. “I know I’m likely not taking this role as seriously as you **would like** me to, but I assure you, I am taking this role more seriously than you probably **expect** me to…”

“If this isn’t a role that you want to play, then it’s not a role that you need to play.” Zawdra took off, flapping her stony wings and lifting herself off of the ground. “The only reason they’re even giving you a chance is because you’re a Madaerie.”

“Well I’m glad that they’re willing to give me a chance, but I assure you that I have no fucking clue what that’s supposed to mean right now, and I don’t really care.” Eia was going to try her best not to just slaughter the entire village, but she was thoroughly exhausted by this conversation. “I have a fire genie who’s going to pop soon, and I need to make sure that she’s taking good care of herself, so that there’s no complications when the babies come.”

“That’s… remarkably caring of you.”

“Thank you, I **pride** myself on impressing stupid people that I don’t know, now please leave… if my brides see you in here, they will feel less safe, and I would like them to feel safe in their own home with their master…”

“Right… I will deliver your messages then.”

“Good to hear it, songbird.”

“Is there any chance I could speak to Alistora before I leave?”

“I’m afraid not, she’s currently learning her place, and I need her to not be interrupted~”

“Alright… please take good care of her for me~”

“I already plan on doing so, but thank you…” Eia gave her a quick smile to show her appreciation for the gargoyle’s concern. “Now before you go, consider yourself officially appointed to whatever position is next below the quartermasters.”

“I don’t think there is one of those, Ma’am.” Zawdra smiled, appreciating the gesture. “But I appreciate it…”

“Then make one.” Eia on the other hand, was completely serious. 

“I… could be your secretary?”

“I like the sound of that, consider yourself Thorn’s first Madame Secretary~”

“Thank you, Ma’am… I’ll go let the court know.”

And with **that** , Zawdra finally fluttered away, and Eia was now free to make her way into the waiting chamber, where her hot headed ifrit queen was waiting for her. 

↞✶↠

  
  


“What an annoying little bird…” 

Eia made her way into the waiting chamber, heading directly to her newest waiting bride. 

“Who? Nightingale or Valonda?” Zaikana had only been in waiting for two days now, but she was already secured into place in the chamber. 

“Nightingale.” Eia sighed, checking the rest of the waiting chamber. “Where is Valonda anyways?”

“Hell if I know, but she’s always somewhere.”

Valonda was in charge of the waiting chamber and everyone inside of it, which was currently limited to Zaikana, but even though she could usually be found there, she was nowhere to be seen. Zaikana on the other hand, was currently being well behaved, despite both hating Valonda, and desperately not wanting to be in the waiting chamber. 

And who could blame her, the sight of the waiting chamber’s interior was always quite jarring to those who step inside of it for the first time, but the full description of it would have to wait for another day.

This was where Eia’s brides went when they were expecting, and Zaikana was most certainly expecting. The fire genie was currently being held in one corner of the chamber, her arms, legs, and collar shackled to the walls of the cell around her. “How are you holding up, Zaikana?”

“I’m doing fine, Ma’am.” Eia was only trying to be nice and make sure that her bride was okay, but Zaikana clearly didn’t appreciate it as much as she ought to. “I’ve given birth before, and I’ll have to eventually do it again, I don’t need a midwife to help me give birth… and I don’t need you checking in on me every day.”

“No, you don’t need me checking in on you every day, but you appreciate it nonetheless.”

“Don’t be putting words into my mouth!!”

“I will put whatever I want into your mouth, slave.” And so she did. Eia pried open the fire genie’s mouth as soon as she tried to clench it shut, shoving no less than three fingers into her maw, watching the anger in her face grow as she debated whether she should bite the wendigo’s fingers off. “Don’t you fucking dare…”

Given her current position, Zaikana decided to heed her master’s words, lowering her gaze just slightly to indicate to Eia that she was listening, and willing to do as she was told. 

“You needn’t like or approve of how you are treated, you only need to accept it. She’s not just a midwife, she’s your sister.” Ten brides was a lot to handle, even without having to deal with Zaikana’s insolence, or needing to mediate between two of them squabbling. “And while I would hope that my brides all love each other, I expect at the very least that you try to get along with one another. Nod your head so I know you understand.”

It was a slightly harder thing for Zaikana to do while she had three fingers shoved into her mouth, but she knew if she did otherwise she would be finding said fingers being jammed down her throat instead, so she gave the wendigo a very uncomfortable nod.

Of course Zaikana wasn’t the arrogant brat that she pretended she was. Her hot headed and insolent outer shell masked her true persona, a rather cold and calculating, but assuredly caring woman. She was no mere child, she was a warrior and a leader. Zaikana had stated before that she loves all of her sisters, even including those whom she doesn’t always get along with. The only person Zaikana really hated was her master. 

“This would be a lot easier for you if you cooperated, you know that. You aren’t acting like much of a queen.” Eia slowly slid her fingers back out of the ifrit’s mouth, making sure to gently graze her claws along the elemental’s tongue. “You’re acting like a haughty snot nosed teenager.”

“Is that not what you’ve reduced me to, Missus Madaerie?” Kulgrantz’ vibrantly red hot skin cooled down slightly, beginning to emanate a softer glow than it usually did as the flaming queen settled down, ready to cooperate. “I haven’t much to my name anymore. Even that itself doesn’t confer any significance like it used to.”

“If your people found out you were here, would they riot?” There she was, the flaming queen. Eia delighted in the moments when she got to see her bride actually act like a half decent ruler. 

“There are so many things that I think they would rather do than riot, if they were alive and well that is.” Even the flames on her head that made themselves out to look like hair were beginning to settle down. “Those who are still alive are almost certainly slaves of the empire, and I wouldn’t say that qualifies as being well. In contrast, those who are well, well… they probably aren’t alive if they aren’t enslaved. When is the last recorded sighting of any of my people?”

“That would be several years ago, unfortunately.” Eia knelt next to her bride, reaching out to pet the fire elemental on the head, which the flaming queen reluctantly allowed. The wisps of plasma that composed the ifrit’s head of hair were usually actual flames, but in moments like this they were little more than a slightly warm illusion. It was a completely voluntary action on her past to consciously temper her anger and flames to allow the wendigo to safely pet her, instead of letting Madaerie burn her own hand just for trying. “That’s much better… good girl.”

“I know better than to let you burn your own paws, when you feel pain we feel pain after all.” Zaikana didn’t much care whether it hurt her in the process, but she didn’t want to hurt her sisters by inflicting pain on their master. 

Eia simply sighed and continued to play with her. “I like it when you’re well behaved you know. I think it suits you better~”

“Why do you think I never behave?” Zaikana mocked her master’s desires. She didn’t really care what Eia wanted, not at all. “Why should I make you happy when I’m not allowed to be happy?”

“Settle down, my little intellectual.” Eia shook her head, completely disregarding Zaikana’s complaints. There was no point in having these kinds of conversations with her, if she did she would perpetually be on the back pedal, because the fire genie can always find a way to reasonably justify her misdemeanors and bad behavior.

Eia could imagine the rest of the conversation in her head. She would assure Zaikana that things would be happier if she just behaved. The ifrit would respond by insisting that nothing Eia could do would make her happy. The wendigo would remind her that she’s not being set free regardless of what she wants, so if she can’t find happiness here, then she would never be happy again. Zaikana would acknowledge this and admit that she’ll probably never be happy again, and her cycle of misbehavior and self-aggrandizing show of disrespect would continue. 

And in the end Eia would just be left with one question: _Why would she continue to go on living here if she knows she’ll never be happy?_

And the answer she would always come to was: _Because she still thinks she’s going to get out of here someday. She escaped from the hobgoblins, why shouldn’t she think herself capable of escaping from me?_

Best to end the conversation here and now before it devolved into that.

“We’re not going to have a grown up conversation until we can recognize who the grown up here is, now are we?” Eia was down on one knee just to be able to reach her, but she was kneeling, as was appropriate for her, and from this position there would be no mistaking who was the one who held all the power here. “Who’s the grown up, slave?”

“If by grown up, you mean to ask who holds the power here, then it’s you. I’m not an idiot, even if I sometimes act like one.” Zaikana rolled her eyes, unlike Brinia she was relatively unfazed by wounds inflicted onto her pride. “And I suppose you expect me to debase myself by describing myself in turn as an arrogant and powerless child, which I only suppose is fair.”

“If you weren’t in waiting, I would be beating you senseless right now.” 

“I’m aware. That’s part of why I’m not being as agreeable as I can be, I know that I can get away with it.” 

“Why you would even want to get away with it is beyond me.”

“It’s because you’re a very despicable woman, Eia. Though to be fair, so am I.” 

“You owned slaves as well, Zaikana. Don’t pretend you have any moral high ground.”

“It’s not your decision to own slaves that I take issue with, Ma’am.”

“Then what exactly might it be that you take issue with, slave?”

“Like you would even listen…” Zaikana retreated, backing out of the conversation before she went further than she ought to go. “There’s nothing to gain from talking any longer, Master.”

“Seems like you aren’t capable of having a grown up conversation even after you’ve recognized your place.” Eia knew very well that using a title was Zaikana’s white flag. It was her way of indicating that she was going to cooperate now, her way to admit defeat without vocalizing her surrender. 

But Eia wanted to hear her submit, and she just needed a little bit of a push to get her to do just that, so the wendigo simply held up her right hand, the ring on her thumb aglow with a flickering orange aura. “You and I both know that there’s a perfectly safe way of punishing you without harming my kits… and you don’t want that do you?”

“No, Ma’am.” Zaikana shook her head, she might have been an arrogant bastard, but even she hated it when her owner activated her magical charm. It was one of the few things that scared her. “I’m done being difficult, Master. I promise.”

“Good. Then let me ask again.” The ring with the symbol of a bottle engulfed by flames, the one on her right thumb, ceased glowing as she lowered her hand. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m a little bit uncomfortable, but that’s about it, and I wouldn’t ask you to unchain me.” The fire genie gently pulled on one of the chains connected to her wrist. “If I were you, I definitely wouldn’t undo them anyways.” 

“Smart girl.” Eia’s hand made its way to the girl’s collar instead, gently tugging at it. “And my kits?”

“You’d have to ask Valonda.” Zaikana rolled her eyes and sighed, her already red cheeks glowing slightly as she blushed. “But she’s as talented a nurse and midwife as she’s ever been, so I have no doubts that the kittens are going to be just fine…”

“I have asked Valonda, and that’s not what she told me.” Eia tightened her grip on the collar, causing the fire genie to arc her neck towards her. “She can’t exactly do her work if you aren’t cooperating with her.”

“I don’t like her, but I have been cooperating, Master-”

“When is the last time you’ve eaten, Zaikana?” Eia roughly yanked on her collar, pulling Zaikana towards her. 

“A month or so, I think?” Zaikana bit her lip, staring helplessly at her master’s angry scowl.

“And how could that be… up until just a couple days ago, you were the one in charge of meals, so how come you haven’t been eating?”

“Because I don’t need to eat to survive, supplies are limited, and my sisters need it more…” 

“You may not need to eat, but your kittens need you to eat for them.”

“I know, Miss. I just…” Zaikana grinded her teeth slightly, averting her gaze downwards. “I’ll cook whatever you order me to… but I just can’t bring myself to eat any of it, especially knowing **what** exactly it is I’d be eating.”

“I brought home a stag not one week ago, Zaikana-”

“And most of that went to either helping Arleena recover from her injuries, or helping nourish Noriza back to health after she delivered. I scrapped together what little was left to give to **you** , Master… yet still you decided to share with Alistora.” Zaikana sighed angrily, her cheeks and flames getting hotter as she grew flustered. “I’m not even upset about what she did… I just made that specifically for **you** …”

“And I appreciate it, sweetheart.” Eia gently rubbed her thumb along Zaikana’s cheek, feeling her skin slowly cool down. “But what I need you to do now is eat so that my kits are delivered safely… I just got finished beating Noriza for not eating last night, I don’t want to do the same to you, especially while you’re still in waiting.”

“Can you really blame her, Ma’am?” Zaikana was, at this point, flabbergasted. “Please try to understand how she feels about it… they’re her pups…”

“Food is scarce, Zaikana. I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t necessary.”

“I just don’t get the point of sacrificing one of her kittens for the sake of my own, Master.” 

“I don’t care what you want, Zaikana. You’re my slave, and you’ll do as I say.” Eia growled angrily at her, letting go of the collar and rising to her feet. 

Zaikana watched as Eia violently jerked her head, it was almost as if the wendigo suddenly got a mental ping to let her know that something was happening. “If I bring you food and tell you to eat. You will eat.”

“I’ll eat, Ma’am.” Zaikana swallowed nervously, taking a stance which she knew was going to get her in trouble. “Just know that if you want me to eat one of Noriza’s kittens, you’ll have to force feed me.”

“Then I will be more than willing to do so.” Eia snarled, still shaking her head violently as she tried to shake free from some sort of magical influence. “Now if you’ll excuse me, it would seem that I have more than one bite sized little bitch trying to spy on me, as if I wasn’t already up to my neck in dealing with invisible songbirds.”

↞✶↠

“She’s coming!!”

Marima clamped the bite sized little pocket mirror shut, watching the image of her master in the glass growing angrier as she realized that somebody was using magic to spy on her, trying to get rid of any evidence of it before Eia came to investigate. 

Marima and her lovely sphinx partner were in the bath, like they usually were, as Eia angrily stormed in. One unfortunate quirk of her magical spyglass was that particularly powerful creatures could tell when they were being spied on, and could trace that magic directly back to the device itself. But not if she managed to turn it off first. 

So the mermaid did just that, clamping it shut and quickly disposing of it before her master had a chance to see it. Unfortunately for Demma, since the mermaid was on her back, the closest place to hide the little thing was in the sphinx’s head of long black hair. “O-ouch…” 

“I’m no fool, that was no songbird spying on me.” Eia did not much appreciate being spied on. This wasn’t the first time she had felt that mental ping in her brain, and it was no coincidence that every time she tried to follow the trail back to its source, she ended up finding Marima.

But Marima was her master’s precious little princess, there was no way that Eia could just assume that she was the culprit… especially when it just so happened that a much more powerful, psychically inclined creature always happened to be in the mermaid’s vicinity when she did so. 

“Alright you two, Master isn’t having a very good day already.” Eia stepped inside, tapping her padded feet impatiently. “I’m starting to notice a pattern here. I don’t care why you’re doing it, but I can’t have you spying on me.”

“W-we weren’t spying on you, Master-” Marima tried to desperately throw Eia off of their trail, but she was spectacularly pathetic at it. 

“Silence, princess.” Eia spoiled Marima just a little bit too much, and she wasn’t actually in the mood to have an argument with her little mermaid. “If one of you fesses up now, I won’t have to punish you both.”

Marima didn’t actually mind getting punished, she wasn’t actually as fragile as either of the other two women thought she was. But Demma also wasn’t scared of being punished, and just like Eia, the sphinx woman liked to spoil the siren. 

“It was me, Master. I’m sorry.” Before Marima even had the chance to consider confessing, Demma had already taken the heat for spying on their wendigo master. “I’m not sure how it could be Marima, anyways?”

“That’s what I thought, but I never know with you two.” Demma was perfectly willing to take the blame for something that Marima was responsible for, and Eia was aware of that. Either way, Eia didn’t actually care which one of them was doing it, despite claiming to not do so, she was planning on punishing them both for it.

It was impossible to really tell who was the culprit anyways, they were a package deal. Fortunately for Eia, these two were the easiest of her brides to punish. “Either way, I think you two have spent enough time together for today.”

The two slaves pouted very slightly, but neither of them made a move to defy their master. Marima simply whimpered as Eia curled her hand into the mermaid’s head of hair, yanking her off of the sphinx woman’s back.

Marima, being held aloft by magic, simply floated in the air above the pool, being able to swim through the air with ease, a sight that always made her owner smile. “Go clean up in the waiting chamber, it’s a total mess in there.”

Eia then turned to the sphinx woman, placing her hand on her back and tapping on her fur with her sharp claws. “As for you, Demmara. Find your way to the stables and have Izona get you saddled up, I expect you to be bridled and ready to be ridden by morning light.” 

Demma sighed, resigning herself to be mounted and reigned like a riding horse. “Yes, Master… how heavily should I pack?”

“Pack light, we’re only going hunting.” Eia gently stroked the fur on Demma’s back, and the sphinx woman found it incredibly convenient that her master didn’t in fact find the mirror hidden in her mane. “And make sure to have the cockatrice ready to be mounted as well.”

“Hawkney?” Demma slowly stepped away from her, glancing over at the door into the hosting chamber. “Hawkney’s not in the stables, Ma’am. Arleena took him out this morning.”

“And why did she do that?” Eia growled at the already frightened Demma under her breath. “You knew about it and you just let her take him out?”

“It’s- it’s not my job, M-”

“You’ll sleep in the stable tonight.” Eia was not exactly happy with either of her lovebirds right now, but she had already implied as such when she instructed her to be ready for the morning. Eia then turned to Marima and asserted the exact opposite, making sure that they knew to sleep apart tonight. “And you will not.”

“Yes, Master…” The two star crossed lovers murmured in unison, responding to their owner’s instructions before heading off. 

Eia didn’t have time to make sure they did as they were told, but she did assure that the two of them parted ways right then and there, having Demma exit immediately into the grand chamber while she dragged Marima into the hosting chamber by her hair. 

The wendigo didn’t have time to sit around and talk with her little princess about how her day was going, or what exactly she had been doing instead of working. 

“One, why haven’t you started on dinner?” Eia caught and released Marima, like any good fisherman would, before making her way into the feasting chamber to see Arleena. “And two, why is **he** in here?”

The last week or so had been, to put it mildly, a really difficult time for Arleena. But that didn’t forgive behavior so brash as bringing an oversized cockatrice into the interior of the den. 

“Look, I know I don’t like to treat my beasts like mere animals, but you can’t be bringing him inside, little one.” 

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Ma’am.” Arleena was an extremely sentimental person, and like her sword, that cockatrice meant a lot to her. “He doesn't like being away from me…”

Arleena was quite distraught right now. Not only had she very nearly lost her life in a duel with the forest’s protector, but she was also apparently single handedly responsible for her master’s decision to claim said protector as her slave, which in turn just about tore the entirety of her harem apart. 

Arleena didn’t much care about herself at all, but the injuries sustained by her own personal mount worried her to death. Even worse, Arleena had been shunted into the kitchen, where she was now cramped, alone, and away from her hunting companion. When the wraith went hunting, she almost always did so with Hawkney, and he had also sustained injuries in the dryad’s scuffle with his rider, and those injuries were only just healing. 

“I know you love him, and you miss him, but this isn’t allowed.” Eia reached past Arleena, taking the reins of the rather large cockatrice and beginning to lead him out of the kitchen before he decided to eat what little food they had. “I can’t have him eating tonight’s dinner.”

Even more concerning, was that Arleena had not yet started on dinner, like she had been instructed to. Apparently all of her slaves had decided that today was going to be the day to act up, though ironically, it seemed like Brinia was the exception as of current.

“I told you to make dinner, and I expect you to make dinner.” Eia scolded the undead elf. “I can’t be wasting time and energy on useless slaves who decide to sit around and let themselves rot, you’re better than that.”

“I know but… they’re Noriza’s kits…” Arleena lowered her head in shame, clearly not wanting to disobey her master. Arleena **hated** feeling useless, it ate away from her even more than the slow encroachment of bodily decay did. 

There was a reason that Zaikana was in charge of the kitchen, and it wasn’t just because she was made of fire. Zaikana wasn’t afraid to do what needed to be done to ensure continued survival for herself and her sisters, and by extension, her master. 

If Eia instructed Zaikana to cook and serve one of her own kits, she would do it without arguing, especially if it meant helping her sisters. 

Zaikana didn’t seem too keen on having children, the idea was almost unthinkable to Eia, the wendigo always pondered what would have happened to the flaming sea after the steam queen’s eventual death, seeing as how it was unlikely for her to ever give birth to an heir. 

But the rest of Eia’s brides were more difficult, they were sentimental. 

The wendigo kittens took only a mere two months to pump out and give birth to, and when they did come out of waiting, her brides always gave birth to a whole batch of them. 

Noriza specifically was known to give birth to a monstrous amount of the little critters, this last litter had brought no fewer than six of them, and that was below normal. 

Wendigos ensured their genes survived through quantity, not quality. Yet the sheer amount of them came at a cost. The energy and resources that went into creating them sometimes needed to be recycled. 

It was an evolutionary advantage that wendigos, like many other animals, had developed. Eia was not at all afraid to eat her own young. But unfortunately for her, her brides were. 

“I’m not giving you a choice here, doll.” Eia was growing more and more impatient by the minute. “Either cook, or find some other way to be useful to me.”

“I tried, but… I can’t do it, Ma’am.” Despite her best efforts, Arleena proved herself to be a weakling sometimes.

“I do love you, Arleena. But I need you to step it up, especially if you want to survive the winter.” Eia had a lot on her plate already, and she needed to be able to rely on her bride’s ability to handle themselves. “I can’t have any of my resources being wasted, and that is not just limited to food, water, and shelter. It includes my time, my space, and my attention.”

“I can still be useful to you… I promise…” 

Arleena couldn’t even bring herself to look up at her master, seemingly too overcome with shame at failing Eia once more. “I’ve finished healing, and so has Hawkney…”

“So you want me to immediately reverse my decision and let you return to hunting?” Eia’s hands were on her hips, rolling her eyes at her little undead doll. “I put you in here for your own protection.”

“I don’t need protection-”

“Are you sure of that, because I sure seem to find myself doing a lot of it?” Eia had grown a lot more than frustrated at Arleena over time. This went further than just disappointment in her performance as a slave, Arleena couldn’t seem to even do so much as properly take care of herself and her own mental state, and it was beginning to get to her master. “I’ve been patient with you, I really have been. But even if I wasn’t your master, which I am, I think I would still be a little bit upset with you… you’re an adult, Arleena. I shouldn’t be expected to coddle you like a child… I’m not your mother.” 

“You’re not really a mother at all.” Arleena wasn’t upset at her master, she was upset at herself. “And neither am I…” 

_So that’s what this is about._

“They’re just jackalopes.”

Eia had already delivered a pair of kittens to the kitchen to be cooked, and there they were on the counter in small little cages, much like the kind that Eia had grown up in. They were still small, but they grew pretty quickly. 

Eia had the legs of a rabbit and the antlers of a deer, so her kittens looked about how you’d imagine them, like jackalopes. 

The wendigo was a biological wonder, but it was still an animal, and it so happened to share a lot of its traits with that of true rabbits. 

They have an extremely short gestation period, they give birth to entire litters of kittens at once, they abandon their young at an extremely early age, and when things get rough, they’re known to eat their own babies. 

Eia was no stranger to losing her young, it was just a fact of life to her… but it was new to Arleena. 

“Do you really think I’m upset with you for losing your kittens?”

Eia didn’t really see much of a difference between a kitten dying before it was born versus after it was born, but clearly Arleena felt like she had failed her master by losing them while they were still inside of her. 

“I would be.”

“Well I’m not.” This was nothing to Eia. She perpetually kept creating more and more kittens to better her species chances of survival, they were expected to die young.

That was why Noriza, Zaikana, Tishula, Arleena, Demma, Cerilla, and Izona had all at one point been pregnant at the same time until just recently. Soon it would be time to send Marima to the breeding chamber to have her belly popped, unless somehow Brinia showed a remarkable willingness to carry one of her master’s kittens sometime soon. 

“They might very well have been a little bundle of joys to you, Arleena…” Eia knelt down, trying to get to eye level with the shorter elf girl. “But it’s not like you’re never going to have your master’s babies again… right?”

“Would you even want me to-”

“Of course I would, Arleena… you’re one of my brides, and that means you’re no different than any of my other brides.” Eia smiled at her, putting one hand on the wraith’s shoulders to try and reassure her. “But if you want that, I need you to be a grown up.”

“I am a grown up, Eia.” Arleena stammered, staring her master in the eyes as she referred to her by name. “I’ve been with you for almost nine years… I was an adult before you got to me, and I’m an adult now.”

“Even so, I’m worried about you.” Eia sighed, putting her other hand on her bride’s cheek and caressing her. “You’ve just been through a traumatic event… and I don’t want to drag you back out there and force you to relive those memories.”

“Is that why you don’t want me to go hunting?” Arleena smiled, taking a single step towards the wendigo. 

“Can you blame me?” Eia frowned, nervously pondering it all over. “I don’t want you getting hurt again, that’s for sure… but I also don’t want you hurting yourself trying to impress me.”

“Like you said, I’m an adult… I don’t need to be coddled.” Arleena pulled Eia’s hand from her cheek and held it in her own as she stepped forward and pressed her lips against Eia’s, stealing her master’s breath away with a kiss. “You aren’t my mother~”

Eia sighed, squeezing onto her bride’s hand as she shook her head. “We’re riding at dawn tomorrow, take Hawkney to the stable and make sure he’s ready to go~”

“What about dinner?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll have Izona take care of it~”

“And Demmara?”

“She’s in the stable getting hitched up by Izona as we speak.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope. Just be ready for tomorrow.”

“Yes, Master.” Arleena smiled for what was probably the first time in a week, nodding her head in confirmation. “You can count on me.”

↞✶↠

Rabbits are capable of jumping huge heights and distances relative to their body size, so when Eia is described as jumping the height of the grand chamber to reach her throne, she really did use her two powerful legs to jump up there in one bound, no magic necessary. 

But she wasn’t the only creature who had decided to roost up there.

“Hey cute little thing, whatcha doing up here, huh?”

Eia gently sat down on her throne, she couldn’t see the creature, but she could definitely sense its presence, especially as she felt it land in her lap. 

“Sounds like someone hasn’t been quite as sneaky as she usually is.” Eia smirked, taunting the small invisible songbird. “You’ve been caught several times trying to do your rounds, you’re not usually this sloppy, what’s gotten you so shaken up~?”

Eia waited for a response, but when the creature didn’t give her one, Eia took a moment to locate the collar clasped around her neck, curling her fingers around the charm and watching as her invisibility quickly faded. 

“Now Valonda… it’s rude not to respond when your master asks you a question.” Eia relaxed into her seat, smiling down at the harpy girl. “What’s gotten you all flustered?”

“Who do you think, Master…” Valonda took a moment before she responded. “It’s Alistora…”


	13. Captive Breeding

The door into the tannery swung open, and in stepped the giantess, Izona, shrunken to a ridiculously small size. 

“Hello?” She nervously stepped up to the counter, her master didn’t usually let her go into Thorn to shop alone, so she wasn’t super familiar with how things worked here, but she was certain that they were open. Maybe she just needs to ring the bell.

 _Ding!!_ She did so, and the sound of a customer arriving rang throughout the whole store. 

“I’m coming, ‘old on!!” The shop's owner, a nearly seven foot tall man with light purple skin, covered in white fur, made his way to the front. 

Winter time was not an easy thing for Eia and her brides to weather, especially now that she had four of them. She and her girls had just settled down, and they hoped to make this forest their home, but that meant they could no longer run from terrible winters.

They would have to sit still and survive the winter like Izona did when she was with Ollik, and that meant they would need hides, and lots of them. Eia really should get someone to hunt and gather for her, but their newest addition had been proving to be difficult for the last year or so, apparently rising from the dead took a serious toll on a person’s ability to function. 

Master already had four brides, and their numbers were already proving difficult to take care of. But Izona was endlessly loyal, and could always be found at her owner’s side, trying to do everything she could for her master, and that meant helping take care of her sisters as well. Though it had taken her quite a bit of effort to convince Eia to let her come to the tannery on her own, she was glad that she had. 

Izona came to the tannery to buy some hides, but when she rang the bell she was greeted by a familiar face, someone she hadn’t seen in years now. 

“Wha’ can I get for ya?” Nurzickka Strongarm was a yeti, and a rather burly one at that. He had been Ollik’s old hunting partner back when Izona lived in the frosted forest, and there was no mistake, he was now standing in front of her again, and it would appear he wasn’t alone.

“Mmmm… ‘oo’s outside, papa?” A younger yeti accompanied him, his daughter. She wasn’t a toddler anymore, but she was still a bit too young to be able to survive on her own, not without her father. Without support from someone else, she likely wouldn’t be able to survive the winter. 

“I told ya to stay in bed, sweet’eart.” Nurzickka smiled at the shorter woman at the counter, not yet recognizing Izona for who she was. “So sorry. This’ll only take a moment, I swear.”

Izona and Ollik had never had children, Ollik was always too busy hunting monsters to have time to raise a family, and Nurzickka had been his right hand man through all of that. But as Izona watched him gently escort his daughter back to bed, she couldn’t help but smile, glad to see that Nurzickka had found the time to start a family of his own. 

“She’s cute… You’re a lucky man.”

“That I am, for sure…” Nurzickka sighed, gently closing the door behind him so as to not make too much noise, he wanted his daughter to be able to fall asleep after all. “Do you ‘ave any kids, Miss?”

Izona shook her head, smiling up at the now much taller man. It was a little bit weird for her to find herself looking at him from below. Nurzickka was shorter than Ollik, and she had always been taller than her husband. She had seen what Ollik looked like from below, but she had never been forced to kneel for his hunting buddy, and it was clear that Nurzickka didn’t recognize Izona from this angle either. “My husband and I never got around to it, I suppose.”

“Tis a shame, it’s a lot of work, but it’s a real rewardin experience… sounds like yer ‘usband isn’t around to ‘elp make that ‘appen though, is ‘e?” Nurzickka sighed, giving her a small smile to show condolences. 

“He died a few years back.” Her original mission was in the back of Izona’s mind now, it was a bit of a detour to make small talk with the store’s owner, but she didn’t loathe Nurzickka like she probably ought to have. He seemed like he had become a much better person, and Izona was glad to get to catch up with him. “I’ve found myself with a loving woman now, though… she just isn’t one for **raising** young.”

“That’s fair, ‘appy to ‘ear you’ve found someone new…” The man sighed, shaking his head as he glanced back to the house behind him. “Not sure I could ever find someone to replace ‘er mother, though.”

“You’d be surprised… sometimes love comes from the most unlikely places.”

“Aye, that’s true, but anyways-” He smiled, flashing the smaller woman a very toothy, but very friendly grin. “What can I do ya for?”

“Hides. Plenty of them.” Izona smirked, remembering why she had come here in the first place. 

“Right, ‘ides are my specialty, ‘ow many do you think you’ll be needin?”

“At least five, please and thank you.”

“And what’s the name?”

“Izona.”

“Izona… Izona Killtree?” Izona watched him begin to write her name down in some sort of book, but after just a few moments he stopped, coming to a realization and needing to get a closer look at the shrunken pseudo-giant, his toothy grin only getting wider as he saw her. “Wait… Izona? Is that you?”

Izona rolled her eyes and nodded, bowing slightly, as she was taught to do by her master. “Hello, Mr. Strongarm.”

His eyes grew wide as he took in everything he was seeing, for the first time being able to see all of Izona in one glance. “What ‘appened to you, doll?” 

“I know right… just look how small I am, huh?” Again, Izona rolled her eyes.

“And ‘ow did that ‘appen? No wonder I don’t recognize ya, you were always the biggest woman I knew, but you’re so tiny now…”

“Something something magic I suppose… my beloved couldn’t stand having to look up at me.”

“I betcha Ollik would ‘ave wished he could do the same.”

“I’m sure he would have, he always made me kneel.”

“I guess there’s no need for ya to kneel now, ‘eh?”

“There’s no need for it, but she makes me do it anyways~”

“Oh, does she?” Nurzickka chuckled awkwardly. “And ‘ow’s that goin for ya?”

“She’s a lovely woman. As long as I behave, she treats me quite wonderfully~”

Nurzickka smiled at that, and then paused, thinking to himself for a few moments. His eyes seemed to wander down to Izona’s neck, where he finally caught signs of something not quite normal. The pseudo-giant was not only shrunken, but she was also wearing a collar around her neck… and that wasn’t normal. “So… you’re a slave now, huh?”

“Is… something wrong, Nurzickka?” Izona caught wind of Nurzickka’s very sudden shift in tone, frowning nervously at him, but continuing. She knew that he had an intense hatred of hobgoblins, just like Ollik did… but she didn’t suppose that he would react like this. “The hobgoblins haven’t gotten their grubby little hands on me… well, they have before, but I’m not owned by hobgoblins, I assure you.”

“That’s great to ‘ear, Izona.” That seemed to ease some of Nurzickka’s fears, but not by a lot. He now had an unmistakable look of disgust on his face, one that wasn’t going to be going away. “I ‘ope things go well for ya with yer new girl, then.”

“I… Thank you, Nurzickka.” Izona smiled and gave him another slight bow. “Things are going quite well, actually.”

“Glad to ‘ear it.” He flashed her another smaller, but still toothy grin before turning around to presumably return to his daughter. “I ‘ope you ‘ave a nice night, Killtree.”

“Thank you?” Izona stammered nervously, watching him begin to turn in for the night. “But… the hides?”

“What about the ‘ides?” 

“I… came to buy some.”

Nurzickka nodded in acknowledgement of that, but sighed under his breath. “I can’t give you any ‘ides, Izona.”

“And why not?” Izona scoffed angrily, unable to just let him walk away. “I’m not asking for freebies, I’m a paying custom-”

“I don’t sell to slaves, Izona.”

Izona’s heart dropped hearing him say that. This was the first time she had been allowed to come purchase anything on her own, and from a friendly familiar face no less, yet still she was getting turned down just on the basis of being a slave. “…What?”

“You heard me, Izona.” Nurzickka repeated himself, getting a little bit exasperated at just having to say it out loud. “I don’t sell to slaves.”

Izona swallowed nervously, her grey cheeks turning pink with anger and despair. “And why not?”

“Because I can’t justify supporting someone who thinks it’s okay to own other people.” He snarled under his breath. “Especially ‘obgoblins.”

“What makes you think I’m even a slave?” Izona stammered angrily, trying to backpedal, maybe convincing him that she wasn’t actually a slave would let her get away with buying hides. She needed those hides if she wanted to impress her master with her service. 

But the yeti man wasn’t having any of it. “Goodnight, Izona.”

“Wait-” Izona bit her lip, growing ever desperate. “She’s not a hobgoblin, I promise you.”

“I can’t be sure of that-”

“What if I bring her here, Sir?” Izona backed away, hanging her head in silent shame. “If I bring my master here… would you sell to her?” 

Nurzickka paused, thinking it over for a moment. “I’d ‘ave no real choice, I suppose… but she ‘ad better stay the ‘ell away from my daughter.”

“Thank you, Sir…” Izona frowned, wanting to shrink away and hide from his rage. “I’ll go ahead and summon her.”

This hadn’t gone at all as planned, but Izona wasn’t going to leave without hides for her sisters, even if it meant swallowing her pride and being led away on a leash at her master’s side. She hadn’t done this before, but she went ahead and did the signal that Eia had told her would successfully summon her, putting her hand on the head of her collar and whistling for her. 

And sure enough, within the hour, her master had arrived.

“Is something the matter, beloved?” Eia didn’t seem pleased as she walked in through the door. She expected some sort of emergency, but Izona seemed just fine, if quite a bit frazzled. 

“Here she is, Sir.” Izona looked up at her master, but she spoke to the shop’s owner, who was waiting for the pseudo-giants owner to arrive. “Nurzickka says he doesn’t sell to slaves.”

“I only suppose that’s fair, if I were in his shoes, I certainly wouldn’t sell to slaves either… they aren’t real people.” Eia just rolled her eyes, not at all surprised to hear any of this. What was surprising, however, was that name. “Wait… Nurzickka?”

Nurzickka was already cowering from the menacing aura of the wendigo before she even made eye contact with him. He recognized that beast, that was his old partner’s favorite hunting dog… That was the beast that took Ollik’s life. “You…”

Eia only grinned as she saw him, licking her lips hungrily. “Nurzickka… it’s been a while…”

“I didn’t want to bring her here…” Izona continued hanging her head, sighing under her breath. She knew what was coming, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. 

“After all those things you and your hunting pal did to me over those years.” Eia cackled evilly. “I think it’s about time for me to get my revenge~”

“Please…” Nurzickka’s eyes widened with terror as he desperately backpedalled, holding the door shut behind him. He knew he could fight… but he had something he needed to protect. “Please… please don’t hurt my daughter…”

“Oh, don’t worry, Nurzickka.” Eia smiled, slowly clawing her way towards the yeti father, desperate to protect his only child. “I’ll make sure that little Strongarm is taken good care of~”

↞✶↠

It felt like Brinia had been cleaning for almost an hour before Noriza finally sat up in bed, shaking herself awake. Fortunately for her, it was seemingly perfect timing, as she was just finishing the task that Eia had given to her. 

“Good morning…” The dryad thought it only polite to acknowledge the yeti’s presence as she awoke from her slumber, before returning to her work, wanting to be done with cleaning.

Noriza didn’t seem to be in the mood to return the politeness. The only sound Brinia heard from her was pained groaning as she slumped off of the bed, lumbering over to the large vanity mirror to examine herself. Noriza was a large woman, but the mirror was larger than the entirety of her body.

Yet what a body it was, even Brinia had to admit. Noriza had been pregnant just a few days prior, but she seemed to have lost quite a lot of weight since then. A concerning amount of weight actually. She was strong and muscular, with wide hips and a round ass, but her waist was remarkably thin, and it gave pause to Brinia to think that maybe losing that much weight so quickly was unnatural. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t healthy for a body to undergo such a drastic transformation in such a short time. 

Noriza’s body was covered in thick white fur, coating over her lavender purple skin. But despite having so much fur, the woman was fidgeting with the hair on her head, trying to make sure it looked good. 

Noriza was apparently kind of particular with her hair, her long wavy locks being long enough to reach about halfway down her neck, the texture of it being the only thing that sets it apart from her other white fur. She tried to keep it out of her face of course, mostly, she was insistent that it looked nice draped over one of her eyes, and by extension, one side of her face, and it did.

“‘Ello.” Noriza finally acknowledged Brinia, without looking down of course, as she sat down at the vanity to do her makeup. That by itself was a little odd, Noriza didn’t seem like the kind of person who would wear makeup, nor did she seem very enthused to be putting it on. 

The yeti woman winced as she sat, and from this angle the dryad could get a little bit of a better look at her. It was difficult to see thanks to her fur, but she definitely had quite a few bruises on her, which were probably only hampering her ability to recover from giving birth.

“Are you… feeling alright?” Brinia stood, deciding that she was done cleaning after doing a pretty good job. “Maybe you should lay back down?”

“I’m fine, but thank you, ‘on.” Noriza leaned over the vanity to get a closer look at her face in the mirror, whining under her breath just slightly as she did so.

But Noriza didn’t seem fine. 

The clear thing that stood out to Brinia at first was that she had just given birth three days ago. Brinia had helped deliver children before, she was a medic and a doctor in addition to a warrior, and Noriza shouldn’t be losing weight this quickly.

The next more concerning thing- those bruises had to come from somewhere, and they definitely didn’t come from giving birth. Noriza’s body was covered in fur, so it was a bad sign that the bruises were swollen enough to show from under her thick white coat.

Putting two and two together gave Brinia the most likely, and most concerning outcome. Judging by the state of the chamber, Noriza had been beaten last night. Which meant Eia had just beaten one of her brides mere days after they had given birth, and was still recovering from doing so. 

And Brinia couldn’t help but feel like she should heal the poor yeti woman’s injuries.

“Those bruises don’t look good… If you lay down, I could possibly heal your injuries for you.” Brinia had to at least offer, Eia had instructed her to offer her services to the yeti woman when she was done cleaning. “Or really anything, I guess… you still haven’t had your shot at… _punishing me_.”

“I’m not really in the mood for that, I’m afraid.” Noriza kept at it, trying desperately to apply cosmetics that at the very least, don’t look terrible. “I ‘ave work I needa be doing.”

“I suppose that’s only fair, but you’re absolutely in no condition to work.” Brinia protested. “If you’re going to leave, at least find somewhere to lay down.”

“And what are you, my mother?” Noriza just snickered at her, trying not to get lipstick on her tusks. “News flash, my mum died years ago.”

“I’m not claiming to be in charge here, I’m just saying-”

“Master put these bruises on me, okay?” Noriza smacked her lips together, trying to make sure the lip gloss was applied evenly. “I knew what I was gettin into when I disobeyed ‘er… an’ this is my punishment for it.”

“I know she’s in charge and all, but even so… I don’t think it’s okay for her to just punish you like that.” Brinia already didn’t like Eia very much this morning, and this was making it worse for her. “You shouldn’t just let her hurt you, especially when you’re still recovering from giving birth.”

“Come on, Alistora… do you really expect me to deny ‘er the chance to ‘it me? Or to try an’ overpower ‘er when she tries?” Noriza shook her head, letting out a low growl, a sign of contempt. “Like I said, I knew what I was gettin into when I disobeyed.”

“Then you should at least try not to get yourself pummeled…” Brinia gritted her teeth, knowing exactly what she was implying. “Even if that means obeying her.”

“I get what you’re saying… but I’m fine, ‘onestly.” Noriza turned back to the vanity, beginning to apply eyeliner. “Besides… I’ve finished recovering from the pups already.”

“That just doesn’t seem possible to me, even if you feel like you’re fully recovered, there’s no way that you-”

“The only wounds I ‘ave left are the ones that Master gave me. I know that because if she didn’t want me to ‘ave ‘em, she would ‘ave ‘ealed them ‘erself.” Noriza paused for a moment to finish applying the last of her makeup before turning to glare straight at the dryad. 

“While you were out an’ about prancing around town on Zaikana’s leash, my Master was doing ‘er damned best to soothe my post delivery aches an’ pains.” Noriza stood up making eye contact with the leash leading from Brinia’s neck to the staff keeping her firmly planted to the ground. 

“You ‘ate ‘er an’ that’s fine, I don’t blame ya, but don’t try to vilify ‘er for ‘itting me, someone you ‘ardly ever even talked to when I lived in Thorn, an’ probably don’t even remember.” Noriza walked over to the bed and sat down on the side of it, rubbing the back of her neck as she winced. 

“You don’t know ‘er life, an’ you don’t know my life… I knew what I was gettin into, and I don’t need your pity.” Noriza snarled at the nervous dryad under her breath, growing more flustered and frustrated than even when she was applying her makeup. 

“My Master loves me enough to at least take care of my basic needs, she always takes care of my wounds, and she ‘as been for years now… If anyone’s to blame for my wounds, it’s you…” Noriza gave Brinia a fierce side eye as she climbed back into bed to lay down.

“Me?” Brinia scoffed at the idea of it. “Now I know I’ve hurt some of you before, but what did I do?”

“If I ‘ave any leftover injuries from giving birth that Master ‘asn’t already ‘ealed, it’s your fault for forcing ‘er to interrupt our night together to come bail you out of Zaikana’s fist…” Noriza seemed so sweet when Brinia first met her that it didn’t yet occur to her that she might be upset about her one night alone with Eia being interrupted. 

It also hadn’t occurred to her that Eia also had healing magic up her sleeve, but it made perfect sense, she was a powerful being after all. “Would you… like me to leave them for her to heal then?”

Noriza nodded gently, trying not to aggravate her clearly sore neck. “I would appreciate that, yeah.”

“Done and done.” Brinia smiled at her, following the leash halfway back to the bed before stopping and turning to the dresser behind her. If Noriza was already dressed, then it was possible that there were clothes in here for her as well. 

“You really don’t recognize me at all, eh?” Noriza piped up after just a few moments of Brinia failing to find clothes in her size. 

“Am I supposed to?” Brinia closed the drawer before moving onto the next one, kneeling in front of the dresser. “I’ve met yeti’s, but I don’t know that I’ve met you… unless I have and can’t remember it.”

“We ‘ave met, it’s just been a while.” Noriza sulked, sighing under her breath as she gently relaxed in the bed. “I guess I don’t blame ya, it’s kinda been a while, and _I_ probably look a lot different, even if you don’t.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Eh… seven or eight years maybe?”

Brinia chuckled, shaking her head at the yeti woman. “You probably would have been a kid back then, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m older than I look, I promise.” Noriza scoffed, nervously biting her now painted lip. “But so are you…”

“Even I can’t remember how old I am.” Brinia closed the last of the drawers, sighing to herself in defeat. “But there are a lot of things I can’t remember… like the last time I’ve had an actual meal.”

Noriza may have been a brute, but she wasn’t an idiot, she could tell what the smaller woman was getting at. “I ate just after I had the pups, I’m fine.”

“You really should eat something more, once a week is hardly enough for a woman recovering from birth.” Brinia continued to protest despite Noriza’s insistence that she was okay. “You need to keep your strength up.”

“I don’t need ‘elp keepin my strength up. I’m fine.” Noriza sighed in exasperation, a look of despair painted over her fresh coat of makeup. 

Brinia didn’t know the girl, but she was a war medic, and she couldn’t let anyone starve themselves. “I’m not asking very much of you.”

Brinia stood, making her way over to the bed where Noriza was now laying, standing over her and wrapping a robe around herself in an attempt to cover up. 

“You’re asking more than ya think.” Noriza was also covered in little more than a robe and a loose fitting pair of shorts around her waist. “If I was going to eat, I would ‘ave done so when Master told me to.” 

“You’re already losing weight, you’re going to lose your strength too.” Brinia sat down on the bedside next to the yeti woman, her leash going slack as she seated herself beside the staff.

“I’m a Strongarm.” Noriza just scoffed at the thought of that, sitting up in bed and chuckling under her breath at the dryad as she reached over her, grasping the staff in one hand. “I never lose my strength.” 

Brinia flinched slightly as the yeti woman yanked the staff from the floor in one motion, expecting it to be brought down over her head. 

It took her a few moments before Brinia opened her eyes, but by the time she did, Noriza was up off the bed, holding the staff over her shoulder, seemingly showing off her strength. 

“You’re a… Strongarm.” It took Brinia a good few more moments before she finally remembered where she had heard the name before. “Like… Nurzickka Strongarm?”

“What about ‘im?” Noriza averted her gaze, one eye still hidden behind her hair as she blushed faintly. 

“That’s where I’ve heard the surname before… I thought I recognized it during the meeting.” Brinia sighed, feeling a little bit of guilt being eased off her chest as she recognized who Noriza was. “Were you related to him then?”

"Yeah, I was." Noriza sort of sighed awkwardly, not wanting to think about it very much, especially after knowing what Eia had done to him. 

Brinia was about to ask how she was related to him, but before she had the chance to, Noriza had changed the subject. "Sorry about roughhousing your daughter, I didn't realize she was your girl…"

Brinia smiled, also trying not to think about her family right now. "It's alright."

"She got a dad?" Noriza smiled, trying to make herself look even cooler by draping the staff over her shoulder.

"It's just been her and I since she was a pup." Brinia shook her head, rolling her own eyes at herself, calling Fennecca a puppy. 

"I know ‘ow that goes. When I lived in Thorn it was just me and my-"

Noriza stopped, suddenly clutching her shoulder as she pried her fingers from the Hollow's Heart, letting it fall onto the floor below, clearly inundated by some amount of pain.

Brinia was caught off guard by the sudden shift in Noriza, but as a doctor, it didn't take her very long to notice that something was wrong. 

Noriza may not have shrieked or shouted, but her sudden wincing matched with her whole body quickly clamping up was a sign that she was in pretty intense pain, enough that it made vocalizing said pain difficult for her.

She kept insisting that she was fine, but she was absolutely not fine, not in the slightest.

_I knew it, her injuries go deeper than she thinks, she can't handle this._

Brinia quickly composed herself, getting ready to examine Noriza's body, but as she approached the other woman, the yeti simply growled at her.

But Brinia was going to properly examine the yeti's wounds, and this time, like with Arleena's injuries, she wasn't taking no for an answer.

Yet that didn't stop Noriza from trying to give her one. "I'm fine!! Back off!!"

"No, you're not. You could have internal bruising, Noriza, you need to let me look at you."

"I said I'm fine, I don't need your ‘elp-"

And then came the sparks, not literal sparks of flame, these one's couldn't set anything on fire. They were magical green wisps, coming directly from the charm affixed to the yeti's collar. 

The dryad had seen these sparks before, coming from Izona's charm in much the same way. It hadn't occurred to Brinia until just then, but the staff was beginning to undo Noriza's magical charm, like it had done with Izona.

Now they were both freaking out, and reasonably so. Brinia had no way of knowing exactly how Noriza's charm worked or what it did, but she was sure that if it was anything like Izona's, it wasn't going to be good.

Noriza was beginning to notice it too, she wasn't there to see it happen to Izona, but she was the one it was happening to this time, and she could tell.

Despite still being in quite a bit of pain from the sudden jolt, as well as her existing injuries, Noriza quickly scrambled past Brinia, forcefully and carelessly shoving the dryad aside onto the bed. Brinia needed the yeti to calm down and stop moving, but Noriza was seemingly desperate to get back to the mirror across the room, sprinting a lot faster than the dryad had seen her move to do so. 

“Can you please lay down, Noriza?” Brinia grumbled unhappily, having to pull herself back after being shoved by the full force of a monstrous yeti woman. 

But Noriza didn’t respond, she was busy staring herself up and down in the mirror in front of her, presumably trying to examine her own injuries. 

“I can take a look at those for you, Noriza. Your master might not like it, but if you lay down I might be able to heal you. I’m sure she would understand if it’s for your own good.” Brinia continued to insist, fearing that she would be the one getting in trouble for once again allowing one of the charms that Eia had placed on her brides to break.

Brinia’s own hands were trembling, the dryad herself was quite nervous. She was sure she had heard the wendigo say that she had placed some extra magical precautions on the staff to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. 

Though perhaps it was a little bit more complicated than that. Eia’s system of intricate magical charms unique to each of her brides was a highly complex array of strings and levers, and the Hollow’s Heart was no simpler. 

She felt like an idiot for letting Noriza pick it up in the first place. Yeah, it was heavy, but Noriza was a massive woman who was clearly capable of overcoming its weight without an issue. To top it all off, Eia had used it to anchor Brinia’s leash to the floor, clearly indicating that she did not want it to be removed. It was totally the dryad’s fault for not communicating what it was and what it could do to her larger sister before she not only picked it up, but wielded it over her shoulder. 

In the heat of it all, Brinia somehow failed to even realize that it was in fact the Hollow’s Heart that the wendigo had used in the first place, and she was beginning to see why. 

It looked different. It was clearly the same weapon, it was mostly the same staff as it was, but its outward appearance was beginning to look a lot more sinister. Like it was becoming more like Eia. 

But Brinia didn’t have time to think about that right now, nor did Noriza have time to once again be gawking at herself in the mirror, but there she was. 

“I- I’m fine now, promise. I just- I th-think I should go…” The yeti finally speaks. Brinia was glad to see that she was no longer shouting out in pain, but she still sounded different from normal for some reason. It wasn’t growly, but it was still raspy and more painful than usual. 

“Your master isn’t going to be happy if you get hurt, Noriza. Please.” Brinia was told to offer her services to her sister, and she was going to. She was sure that this wasn’t at all what Eia meant when she ordered her to do so, but the dryad was a doctor, and she was more than capable of offering those skills to help the yeti woman.

“I-I’m fine… just un- uncomfortable.” There it was again, and Brinia was beginning to notice that Noriza was starting to sound kind of flustered, which was not something that Noriza normally did. She was clearly not the kind of girl who was so easy to embarrass. 

“Is something the matter?” Brinia didn’t know the woman all too well, but she was empathetic, and she couldn’t help but get concerned knowing that something was wrong. 

“I’m okay please, I just- I need to go-” Noriza continued to stammer awkwardly, turning away from the mirror with what appeared to be a look of shame painted onto her cheeks, her eyes darting around the room, trying to avoid eye contact. 

_Oh for the love of-_ Brinia knew she should just let Noriza be stubborn and allow her to just be on her way, but she was getting really sick of all of this.

“Alright!! That’s it, I’ve fucking had it!!” Brinia could not be expected to be the bigger person all of the time. “I’ve only just met you all, what… Two? Three? Four days ago?” 

The dryad was getting fed up with being ignored and disregarded by the other slaves at best, or tormented and abused at worst. “I am **not** going to just sit here and let you all treat me like I’m the bad guy, I’m not the bad guy!! I’m just trying to help you!!”

“Sure, I got into a fight with Arleena, and I’m sorry about that… but I healed her to the best of my ability, even if she didn’t want that. I don’t want to lay down and let myself be treated like a slave, like I’m some nothing that even the rest of the slaves hate, but still I’m gritting my teeth and taking it anyways, because I am **trying** , desperately, to do what I think is right.”

“Since I’ve gotten here that usually just means doing as I’m told, but right now, the right thing to do **isn’t** letting you walk through that door and exacerbate whatever sort of internal traumas you very possibly have, even if you might honestly still be my enemy. Eia is telling me to sit down and be a good little… _whatever_ , and that probably means being as submissive as I can be, and just going along with things, but I am tired.”

“I don’t want to do all of this, but I’m trying my best here, Noriza. I don’t care whether you like me or hate me, I am trying to help you… and I do not deserve to be treated like I am nothing, because I am **not** nothing… I am Brinia Alistora, guardian of the Eternal Hollow, and I am probably the only reason you, or your family, or any of the people you love have been able to survive the harshest of winter nights.”

“You say you lived in Thorn with your father, or your mother, or your uncle, or your daughter, or whatever… but that just means that there’s a big chance that **I** am the only reason either you or your loved ones were even capable of growing up to be who you are today, rather than living your whole lives under the heel of Akziel the Abuser.”

Noriza paused, looking Brinia in the eyes as she spoke, her face still painted over with an ashamed blush. She was nervous, even more so than the dryad was, but she still didn’t want to relent. The yeti woman was either too nervous or too scared to allow the dryad to look at her, especially right now. Regardless, Brinia was going to do her fucking job, and not even Eia was going to be able to stop her. “I’m just… kind of shy…” 

“It’s me, Noriza. Please please trust me when I say I’m not going to hurt you, or humiliate you, or do anything like your master would do to you… I’m not here to shove salt in your wounds, I’m here to help them.” Brinia smiled, making room on the bed for the yeti woman to lay down. “It’s fine if you’re shy, I don’t judge.”

Noriza’s face was getting hotter by the second, clearly growing more and more flustered as this went on. The Yeti woman seemed to be going into heat, and much of that heat was being directed towards the dryad. “But, my charm-”

“Can wait until your master gets back. This is her chamber, she’s going to be back eventually.” Brinia was aware that Yeti’s went into a pretty regular heat, according to their breeding cycles, and it made sense for the wendigo to choose her as her preferred breeding slave. 

Of course it was still weird to Brinia, having seen the wendigo’s genitals, it was clear that the fiend had to employ some sort of strange magic in order to be able to breed with her slaves. Unfortunately Brinia, like Noriza, was biologically female, so despite the yeti’s quite clear desire to want to breed with someone right here and now, Alistora was incapable of breeding with Noriza right here and now. 

But that wasn’t going to stop her from using this heat to her advantage. “Come lay down and we can have some fun once we’re done~”

Suddenly, Noriza was climbing into bed with her, no longer caring about her own body or what her master wanted from her. All she cared about was her own heat, a feeling that Brinia had become all too familiar with while in her numerous trances. 

But it wasn’t Noriza finding herself laying down, it was Brinia, as the other woman towered over her, slamming her onto her back right in the center of the bed. 

The dryad only had three more glowing glyphs on her collarbone, one of which she even forgot about, seeing as how it seemed to blend in and disappear against the backdrop of her yellow skin. But the cyan glyph right next to it was also quickly blocked out as Noriza pressed her hand to it, firmly pressing her finger into the magical symbol. 

Brinia almost blurted the command phrase out loud, but before she could even commit to memory what they were, she had to stop herself, realizing that she wanted to examine the yeti’s body first. The dryad’s charm never included a green glyph since it was her own glyph color, but the sparks that once again were beginning to erupt from Noriza’s delicate little snowflake charm were the exact color of Brinia’s magical glyph. “O-on your back please, I need to examine you first.”

Noriza snarled and grumbled, taking a moment before she relented, letting Brinia out from under her and rolling onto her back. Now finally the dryad doctor could examine her. 

Her face was still the same though, despite how furiously she was trying to hide her own blushing behind her own hands. It was a cute face too, Noriza was a really pretty girl, especially after her master had forced her to put on makeup.

She still had that same thin waist and wide hips that she had woken up with, but something was immediately odd about Noriza’s body as soon as Brinia could see her on her back. The loose fitting clothes had obscured it before, but Noriza’s chest seemed smaller than it was. It was still muscular, and a stand out feature of hers, but it was definitely smaller. 

And there it went again, those sparks of light coming from her as her charm quickly unraveled. Whatever was happening to her was a product of her magical charm being deactivated. Brinia could only speculate what it was that her charm did to her, as Noriza was not in fact turning into an eleven foot tall giant woman. 

Brinia briefly wondered whether it was a charm that regulated her heat cycles to be more in tune with Eia’s, which might explain why her chest would expand shortly after giving birth, but quickly deflate back to normal size when the magical heat cycle was disrupted.

But it only took Brinia a couple moments of examining Noriza’s body before she realized what the charm **actually** did to her. 

“…Oh… I… I see…” Brinia blushed, trying not to look Noriza in the eyes in a very rare moment of pure embarrassment for her. “…So that’s what that charm does…”

“Master is **not** going to be ‘appy with me.” Noriza sighed loudly, hiding her face behind her left forearm as she awkwardly tried to avoid eye contact with Brinia. “She’s ‘ungry… ain’t she?”

“That’s… one way to put it…” Brinia’s face was turning just as red, even before the yeti reached forward and placed her finger on the glyph once again. The dryad was a little bit too caught up in the sudden revelation to notice it or think about it, unable to take her eyes off of the elephant in the room. “…Nurzickka?”

“I still prefer Noriza, but… Surpriiiiise.” Noriza chuckled awkwardly, biting down on her bottom lip with her monstrous tusks. “So, this is embarrassing, eh? …I couldn’t think of a worse time to ‘ave a reunion.”

“You can say that again…” Brinia blinked, frozen in disbelief as she stared at the sight of Noriza’s crotch, having pulled her shorts off of her to examine her for injuries, not expecting to be faced with what she was suddenly faced with. “I’ll give you one thing… she’s **remarkably** clean-shaven…”

“Oh, good… I try very ‘ard, Master loves her girls to be free of ‘air down there.” Noriza moved her arm from her face, licking her lips as she awkwardly made small talk before the inevitable breeding session the two girls were about to engage in. “I’m… real bad at foreplay, alright?”

“Yeah, let’s… let’s just skip that…” Brinia, also blushing, awkwardly smiled as she finally noticed the yeti woman’s finger on her collarbone. The dryad was very suddenly not in the mood to put off the sex any longer, if only because of how awkward the foreplay was turning out to be. “We… We should go get Eia.”

Noriza watched Brinia jump to her feet, climbing away from her and onto the floor, heading towards the door. Neither woman wanted to delay the desperate breeding session any longer, but Brinia was hell bent on stopping it before it happened, if only because she was still deluding herself into thinking it was the right thing to do. To lay off the sex on the pretense of not hurting her sister any further, if only because she didn’t want to experience the heat and shame of letting herself be raped by a much larger and stronger woman. Noriza didn’t say anything, but she definitely growled as the spry little faerie bitch slipped out of her grasp before she could fuck her. 

Brinia wasn’t sure why she was trying to escape it deep down, but she knew that the wendigo was the only one who could fix the charm… as well as the only one who could open the door. 

Unfortunately for her, she wouldn’t even get the chance to try opening the door, as the air in her lungs suddenly escaped her. 

Alistora may have slipped out of the yeti’s grasp, but she had a very clear, very exploitable weakness affixed to her, her leash dangling behind her, now firmly caught in Noriza’s grasp, as the yeti reeled her sister back to the bed. 

Brinia desperately tried to fight it, to argue against those voices in her head telling her to bend over and take it like a real woman, to let herself be ravished, and to prove her worth as a slave.

And she would ultimately lose to those words in her head, the command phrase ringing in the forefront of her brain drowning out all of her thoughts as she was yanked right back into position between her sister’s legs. 

And this time she said them like she meant them, because she did. 

“Woman to woman… Please slam your titanic yeti icicle up my delicate little snowflake before you melt me, sis… Show me what a real girl can do~”

And here we are again, just a faint cyan flash of light later, and it was time to let herself be raped again. 

Brinia felt a wave of immense pleasure wash over her as her charm took effect, immediately followed by the other woman placing her strong yeti hands on the dryad’s hips and helping lift her up onto her knees, submissively following the movements of Noriza’s furry palms as she helped guide her. 

Brinia shuddered with anticipation, nervously closing her eyes as her little flower trembled with both fear and excitement… And then Noriza slammed Brinia’s hot little cunt down onto her massive yeti cock as hard as she could.

Brinia screamed, her whole body racked with enough pain to shatter through the illusion of pleasure that her hypnotic trance tried to hide the pain with. 

There was very little pleasure to it at first, just extreme and insufferable pain, but after just a few moments, once the pain had enough time to begin to subside, she could feel the pleasure. 

No, that pain was the pleasure. 

Her legs were trembling as she tried to pull herself off of Noriza’s cock, just about unable to support any of her own weight, but that was before she felt the yeti curling her claws into the skin of her leafy ass, prying herself from the other woman’s waist. 

“Ride.” Noriza snarled as she commanded her new doll to start riding her member.

Yeti’s could be very particular when it came to how they had sex. Generally, the breeder commanded complete and total control of his or her partner when it came time for said partner to be bred. This of course varied from yeti to yeti, they were a race of people, not just an array of monsters, and that meant that each person was different and unique

“Fast and hard, Alistora.” It just didn’t appear that **this** yeti was very different. 

The dryad of course, was also helpless to fight against that, once again being subjected to a kind of shame and humiliation she could have only had wet dreams about. The magical charm that had overtaken her mind compelled her to obey, and so she did, being given the strength to push herself up and slam herself down onto Noriza’s cock once again. 

She wouldn’t have otherwise had the strength to do so, but the magic compelling her to obey made it so, just as it inundated her with terrible pain, unshakable shame, and unbearably awful pleasure as she did so. Brinia was not yet having fun, or so she was telling herself, but Noriza was and that was all that mattered. The yeti was especially pleased to hear Brinia let out another pained scream as she dripped her faerie sap onto her smoothly shaven crotch. 

“Two bounces is **not** riding, Alistora.” Noriza took one hand from the dryad’s waist and grabbed ahold of her by her breast, pressing her sharply clawed thumb into Brinia’s nipple as she twisted her entire breast in her hand. 

Brinia screamed in terror again, hoping and waiting for Noriza to pull her hand away. But she didn’t pull her hand away, not even after Brinia kept going, bouncing on her cock again, nor did she stop after the next bounce, or the next, or the next. Noriza only finally let go of the dryad’s quickly bruising breast after she had gotten into a rhythm that not even she could stop herself from doing. Alistora was now helplessly bouncing on the yeti’s hard member, unable to put the brakes on her own movements. 

“We’re trying to **breed** here, aren’t we?!” Noriza growled loudly at her cattle. Brinia could almost mistake that obsession with breeding as one of the yeti’s instincts, but she knew better. 

Noriza was a breeder by trade, it was her reason to live. Or rather, Noriza had become Eia’s _breedee_. She was the one who was usually in Brinia’s position, submissively doing what she could to ensure that her own genes lived on through her tykes.

No, Noriza was actually far more selfless, it was her duty to try and ensure that it was her master’s genes that got passed down, doing what she could to deliver the wendigo’s kits.

But now it was her turn to breed, and it was Brinia’s duty to serve her, she deserved this. 

“Nnng… It hurts.” Brinia was suffering pretty fiercely, she didn’t want it to keep going, but she didn’t want it to stop, she wasn’t sure what she wanted.

Brinia was extremely inexperienced when it came to sex in general, but she had been through a few encounters here and there. Yet as far as she could remember, she had never had sex with a man. 

Though, even in her aching state she could recognize that Noriza was no man, she was a woman, and Alistora could tell that she was more than a little bit ashamed of all this. But Brinia wasn’t about to stop thinking of her as the woman she clearly was, after all, what man could ever pleasure her like this. 

As soon as the dryad’s movements slowed, Noriza growled angrily. But instead of reaching for Brinia’s other breast, she dug her claws into the flesh of the faerie girl’s hips and pried her completely off of her cock. Brinia, unsure of where her hands should go, very briefly curled them around her tits in the off chance that Noriza tried to take another shot at them, but she didn’t.

Noriza had more sinister ideas in mind, letting go of the dryad’s hips and letting her slump onto the bed beside her, Brinia only had a few moments of respite before the yeti was curling her claws into the dryad’s leafy green hair. 

And just as quickly, Brinia was choking, not because she had gotten the wind knocked out of her, but because she was now being forced upon Noriza’s swollen member.

Noriza didn’t fucking play around either. She went deep and she went hard, leaving the other girl helpless but to choke and gag on her cock as she pounded her tight stupid little throat as hard as she could. 

Brinia had tasted several of her sisters since she had gotten here, but the taste and scent and feeling of the large savage yeti woman pumping her seed down the dryad’s throat was a unique sensation all on its own, and it was one that left Brinia desperately pleading for more abuse and mistreatment at her sister’s hand, even after she had just gotten off to skullfucking the former archfey. 

_So this is what my life has come to?_ The words couldn’t actually fully form themselves in the dryad’s brain, but the sentiments behind them were most certainly still there. _Letting myself get raped and bred by a yeti, then desperately begging and hoping that it’s not all over after just one ride._

Luckily for her, it was not yet over, not at all. Noriza found it necessary to put the dryad in her proper place, so she was going to. Round one was the warm up for the yeti woman, now it was time for the little bitch to really be bred. 

Noriza flipped her onto her back once again, leaving her helplessly sprawled out onto the bed below, murmuring and cooing in a mixture of both fear and pleasure. 

Brinia could tell that the yeti woman wasn’t the best at using her words during sex, and that was alright. All Alistora craved right now were the feelings of pleasure given to her for going along with it all

She happily let the waves of pleasure and pain wash over her as Noriza split her delicate little flower open with her cock once again, sliding her thick member up the dryad’s tight wet little cunt. 

_** That’s it. Good girl. Keep going. Follow. Submit. Obey. Follow. Submit. Obey. Let her have you.** _

Again, they weren’t really words that were being received by her brain, just sentiments, emotions, and impulses. But in the absence of any words from either her own mouth or Noriza’s they almost felt like words to her. 

The hypnotic trance seemed to tighten its grasp on her more and more with each successive session, murmuring words into her louder and louder, clearer and clearer. The more of Eia’s brides she had sex with, the more power Eia had over her, the easier that her master could control her. 

_** Just like that, see. You’re already such a good little slave, aren’t you?  ** _

Now **those** , those were almost certainly words, and they didn’t come from her own brain, that’s for sure. 

_** This is how you’re meant to be. Don’t fight it. Just give in. Relent. Let her take control of you… Let me take control of you~  ** _

It wasn’t her own voice, and it wasn’t Noriza’s voice either… and Brinia was sure that it wasn’t Eia’s voice, but it was still a voice that she couldn’t disobey.

_ **Be a good girl… Let yourself be controlled, let yourself be taken over… Let yourself be hers~** _

Brinia was on her back, legs spread as wide as they could go as Noriza pounded her cunt, turning it into a tight little snowflake, getting wetter as the heat she was in slowly melted it. She nodded, unsure of who she was hearing in her head, but whoever it was, she was agreeing to their terms. No negotiations were going to be had, Brinia was simply going to squeal in pleasure as she forfeited her right to her own mind and body in the sake of pleasure, screaming as Noriza split her in half with her hard yeti cock. 

She lost track of her own hands, but she could feel Noriza’s as her sister squeezed her, grabbing ahold of her by her tits, using them as handlebars as she railed the dryad’s pathetic little snowflake… and Brinia blissfully went along with it, squealing in pain.

She wasn’t sure how much of this she could take, but she was going to take all of it, hoping desperately to be pushed past her limits, wanting to get pushed to the brink of something that even she couldn’t come back from… hoping for her mind to be completely broken and overtaken by her master’s sweet submissive little doll, wishing helplessly that her resolve would finally be broken. 

Brinia arched her back, her eyes rolling into her skull as she screamed helplessly, climaxing along with Noriza as she violently pumped her seed into the dryad’s sensitive little snowflake. She wasn’t even in control of her own body as she spasmed against Noriza’s member, riding out the rest of her orgasm on her sister’s hard yeti cock. 

And Noriza continued listening to her scream for a good couple minutes after it was over, finally having to take her hands off of the faerie’s broken and battered tits to silence her desperate pained noises with a pillow. 

Even then, though the two girls both needed a moment to recover, it was clear that they still weren’t done.

“Don’t you ever dare call me weak again, you got that?” Noriza ripped the pillow away from her hands as soon as the dryad began to use it for support. 

Brinia recoiled beneath her sister, whimpering with shame. “It won’t happen again…”

“Swear to me that it’ll never ‘appen again, Alistora.” Noriza bared her tusks in front of the dryad’s face, threatening to rip her apart with just her teeth. 

“I swear, Ma’am… I won’t ever disrespect you a-again!!” Brinia was crying now, she didn’t usually cry, but even though they looked and sounded like tears of fear, they were really tears of pain. 

“Don’t you ever try to put yourself above me, or I will end you where you lay.” Noriza had used the silence of their breeding session to come up with some things to say, and she was loving it. “You may ‘ave been our protector once, but now you’re our little bitch. We owe you nothing.”

“I’m sorry, sis. I’m sorry.” That’s not what Brinia had been implying, she only wanted to convince her sister to trust her and stop disrespecting her. But it was possible that she was actually trying to strengthen her own pride and self esteem by bragging about who she was, trying to fool herself into thinking she was above all of this. To insist to herself that she wasn’t really a slave. 

_** But you are a slave, Alistora. You and I both know that.  ** _

Brinia was composed enough to form words of her own now, yet still she could hear voices that weren’t hers inside of her own head. All of a sudden, there was someone in there with her. 

“You can’t tell a soul that I’m ‘ere, and that I’m secretly slave to some wendigo out in the fog wastes, ya ‘ear?” Before Brinia could pay the other voice in her head any attention however, Noriza snapped her back to reality. “My reputation would be… ruined.”

“Your reputation?” Alistora couldn’t help but let out a laugh, not a mean one, but a friendly one. “Just look at yourself, you couldn’t convince anyone that you’re Nurzickka Strongarm, no matter how hard you might try to.”

Noriza blushed, growling under her breath, clearly not taking the playful teasing as well as her sister might have wanted her to. “Brinia, I’m serious!”

“I thought you died!! Everyone thought you died!!” Brinia took a moment to catch her breath between exclamations. “One harsh winter night you were just… gone. Never to be seen again, your daughter was alone in bed, with no idea where you were-”

“And that’s why I ‘ad to leave!!” Noriza interrupted her, unable to stop tears from welling up in her eyes, immediately needing to wipe them away. “Look at me Alistora… I never used to cry, and I definitely didn’t choose to become a pussy lipped, top ‘eavy, fat assed little bitch cowering and begging to be stepped on by the ‘unting dog’s little bunny feet, but ‘ere I am!!”

Brinia was taken aback, having expected herself to be the one on the receiving end of such colorful insults, but that clearly wasn’t the case right now. “Then… why do it?”

“I didn’t want this any more than Marima wanted to become Eia’s ‘epless little ‘ousekeeper… or Demmara wanted to become the monster lady’s pathetic steed… I never cried before ‘er… I never cried before she got to me.” Noriza pulled away from Brinia slightly, giving her just a bit of space on the bed. “Just like you didn’t choose to become ‘er slave, either… you never wanted this, and neither did I.”

“How… how did she get to you then?”

“Well ‘ow do you think she got to me, Alistora? I didn’t leave my daughter alone in some cabin near the woods one winter night on my own accord, did I?” Noriza bit her own lip with her tusks, drawing just a little bit of blood as she broke down. “Make an educated guess on ‘ow you think she got to me… she used my daughter as leverage, and made me agree to be ‘er slave.”

“In exchange for her safety…” Brinia swallowed nervously, realizing that Noriza was in the same position as she was. “Just like with me.”

“S-so excuse me if I sometimes throw my own ‘ealth to the wayside in the name of something more important to me… excuse me for letting myself be subjected to Eia’s torment to protect my little girl…” 

“But why defend her? If Eia is such a monster, then why be so loyal?!”

“Because if you ‘aven’t figured out yet… she ‘as eyes and ears everywhere…” Noriza was glaring up at the ledge near the ceiling of the room, the one upon which perched the door leading directly to Eia’s throne. “I love ‘er, but… sometimes that little songbird is just too much for me…”

Brinia simply nodded, not sure that she was confident speaking now that she knew she could be heard. 

“Look… if you wanna eat, that’s fine… But I’m not gonna let ‘er make me eat something I put so much into nurturing and taking care of...” Noriza sniffled, choking back even more tears. “I’m not gonna let ‘er make me eat my own pups.”

Brinia’s eyes widened with fear and horror at the thought of it, being forced to eat one’s own children. So that was why Noriza had been beaten, she had refused to eat her own children. “I… I’m sorry Noriza. I didn’t know.”

“Shut up, already.” Noriza snarled again. Her body may have been reverting to how it originally was, but deep down Noriza was still the same woman, brave yet unafraid to cry… a proud mother who would do anything for her children. That didn’t much sound like the image of Nurzickka that Brinia had in her head. “I’m proud of who I am, but I’m proud of who I was… and I don’t want my little girl thinking that ‘er dad would just abandon ‘er to run off with some wench in the woods.”

“You’re not her father anymore, Noriza…” Brinia smiled, trying to reassure the larger girl. “You’re her mother.”

That brought a smile to the yeti woman’s face, sniffling back her tears and smiling at the dryad. “Yeah… I guess so…”

“Yeah, and you should be proud of that.” Brinia smiled, still lying there on her back. “Have you heard anything about how she’s doing, or has Eia left you in the dark?”

“Master checks up on her from time to time to make sure she’s okay…” Noriza sighed. “But I ‘aven’t seen ‘er… and she doesn’t know I’m ‘ere…”

“Norko, right? Norko Strongarm?” Brinia was pretty sure who the yeti woman’s daughter was, but she had to make sure. “It’s a pretty name, just like Noriza.”

“Noriza **was** ‘er mom’s name…” Noriza frowned, her heart heavy in her chest. “She never got to meet ‘er real mother…”

“How come… what happened to her?”

“Died during childbirth, ironically.”

“Well let’s hope her other mom doesn’t go the same way, then.”

“What about you then, Alistora… Your girl doesn’t ‘ave a dad, but does she ‘ave another mom?”

Brinia paused, her own heart aching as she thought about her daughter. She didn’t like to think about it that way, she wanted to rationalize her little family as just herself and her daughter. But in reality, yes, Fennecca did have two mothers. 

“She does, but her mom’s a stupid moron who fell in love with a decades old hag dryad living in the woods, running out and almost getting herself killed by night, and raising a little minx girl as a single mother by day.”

“She sounds like one ‘ell of a woman, eh?” Noriza smirked. “What’s your lucky lady’s name?”

Brinia groaned, trying to hide herself behind a pillow to block the reality around her. “Zawdra Nightingale…”

Brinia expected Noriza to laugh at and tease her, but instead she felt Noriza’s hands grabbing her by the waist, flipping her onto her belly. “Let’s get you into position for your master then, eh?”

“You… you were awake for that?”

“Of course I was, it was ‘ot~” Noriza grinned, getting Brinia into the exact position that her master wanted her in, before reattaching her leash to the ground. “Now if you’ll excuse me… I ‘ave to go whimper and beg for my master to put me back the way she wants me.”

Brinia let out a pained sigh of acknowledgement, her pained knees barely able to keep her in position, even before Noriza grabbed her by the hips again, pressing the tip of her cock to the dryad’s tight asshole.

“Unless someone wants another pounding~”

Brinia growled angrily under her breath, arching her back and pouting. “It’s called rape. It’s not like it matters what I want.”

↞✶↠

Noriza seemed to be in much higher spirits, though this orgasm took a lot less time, and was a lot less rough than Brinia might have liked, even if she still enjoyed it. She was just thankful that the crazy voice in her head didn’t pipe back in to torment her even further. 

Noriza was in higher spirits that was, until her master came to **her**.

“And what exactly do you have to say for yourself, Strongarm?” Eia was not at all happy, apparently having got wind of what was going on from her little spy birds. 

“This isn’t what I wanted, Master, I promise.” Noriza was a large, strong woman, but she was scared. “Please put me back the way I’m supposed to be…”

“Oh? Unless I’m mistaken I thought someone didn’t want to be my pussy-lipped, top heavy, fatass little bitch?” Eia snarled at her insolent slave under her breath. “What changed that?”

“You changed that, Master.” Noriza spoke without hesitation, lowering herself to her knees in submission. “I’ve even done my makeup for you, like you wanted… I’d do anything for you-”

“Except exercise proper eating habits, that is?” Eia tapped her foot on the floor of her chamber. 

“I’ll eat anything you give me, Ma’am…” Noriza frowned, ashamed to be doing what she’s doing. “If it means staying with you, I’ll do anything… I swear… Please let me be your little bitch…”

“I never said I was going to be getting rid of you Noriza.” Eia smiled, running her fingers through the kneeling yeti’s thick fur. “Nor did I say that your little tyke is in any danger because of today~”

“…She’s not?” Noriza blushed, smiling up at the wendigo. 

“Of course she’s not, my precious little Noriza.” Eia retracted her claws, scratching Noriza’s head like she was a dog. “She means something to you, so she means something to me, to a degree.” 

“Thank you, Master. I was-”

“You were scared, I know.” Eia frowned, curling her fingers into a fist in Noriza’s hair. “You don’t really pretend to love me because you think I’m going to hurt her, do you?”

Noriza scoffed at the idea of it, shaking her head. “Why do you think I don’t want to eat the kits, Ma’am… They’re not just mine, they’re ours.”

“You don’t have to eat tonight, my dear… but they’re already gone.” Eia sighed. She still wasn’t used to the idea of loving and taking care of one’s own children, but she was relenting to the idea that some things were too far for some creatures. “In the meantime… get yourself to the breeding chamber, we’re going to get your belly popped early~”

“R-right now?"

“Yes, right now, I wouldn't give you an order that I didn't expect you to follow~” Eia smiled, snapping her fingers and pointing out of her chamber. “Now go, your sister is already waiting to help hitch you up, don’t keep her waiting.”

“Y-yes, Master…” And with that, after a much earned rape session, the yeti woman finally exited the room, the magic of the glyph going with her.

That left Brinia here in the chamber, alone with her master. Barely able to keep herself in the proper position, her body overcome with intense pain. 

Eia stepped further inside, walking up to the mirror and examining herself, all the while admiring the reflection of the bowing dryad on the bed.

“I see you have questions, slave?”

“I didn’t say anything, I promise.

“I’m aware, but I can tell by just the way you’re looking at me that you have things you would like to say, and I am giving you the opportunity to say them.”

“Permission to sit up?”

“Permission denied, speak.”

“You’ve been protecting her daughter… why?” Brinia sighed, wincing in pain as she spoke. “Why do what you’ve done to her and still protect what was once hers?”

“Your Master and Noriza have a long complicated history together, one that goes back about as far as Izona does.” Eia continued to admire the pretty little faerie girl lying helpless on the bed as she sat down at the vanity. “I hunted mean nasty old Nurzickka down to get revenge on what he did to me in the past… and in the process I turned him into dear sweet pathetic little Noriza, always eager to please, willing to give herself to me, to tirelessly bear as many of my kitten as she possibly can just to spare the life of one of hers.”

“But why not just kill him?”

“I did decide to kill him… but not right away~” Eia shook her head, still grinning in the mirror. “He wouldn’t possibly be able to know that I’m keeping my word, and how is that fair to him, darling Alistora?”

“So what… you changed your mind on killing her, then?”

“Not really, no. I haven’t changed my tactics at all…” Eia rolled her eyes at the dryad’s reflection. "The original plan was for her to have her bear my children until it killed her, but... I suppose I got too attached to my beloved little trophy... and I love her too much to let her go."

“And her daughter? What happens to Norko?”

“Alright, that's enough.” Eia slammed her sharply clawed hand down on the vanity, standing up and growling. “This has gone a bit farther than questioning me, and is quickly becoming insolence, so I suggest that you watch your attitude.”

Eia was delighted to see that Brinia was somehow managing to do just fine keeping herself in position, and even more delighted as the dryad heeded her words, lowering her head to the sheets beneath her. “I can stop. I’m sorry, Master…”

_So you use it as a white flag too, huh, Alistora?_

“You’re dripping onto my bed, slave.” Eia quietly approached her, examining the dryad’s aching body.

“I’m sorry… I can clean it up if you’d like?” Brinia winced, feeling the wendigo’s paw on her backside once more, having been in too much pain to notice her approach. 

“Don’t bother… it’s nothing new.” Eia gently clawed at Brinia’s soft flesh, grinning to herself as she made her way to Brinia’s cunt. “You **will** be eating tonight, make no mistake about that.”

Brinia whined, barely managing to keep it together as Eia slipped one of her clawed fingers into the dryad’s wet and waiting cunt. “Yes, Master…”

Eia slipped her finger back out to examine it after just a moment, not wanting to toy with the dryad any further. “You’re bleeding.”

“I… I’m sorry…” Brinia bit her lip, realizing that what she was feeling inside of her wasn’t her own pollens, but blood from going down on her sister’s cock. “I can clean that up for you…”

Eia sighed, but smiled, appreciating that keeping her master’s bed clean was the first thing that popped into the dryad’s head. “You have your instructions. Do you think you can hold this position until dinner?”

“Yes, Master.” Brinia hated saying the word ‘Master’ but she was once again holding onto it like a crutch, unable to bring herself to disrespect the wendigo, even if it meant bruising her own ego. Noriza had done much worse for Eia, and still managed to hold onto just a sliver of pride. 

“Are you sure?” Eia grinned at the sight of her cute little slave, just lying here for her. “You can be done now if you wish~”

“I can do it, Eia.” Whoops, sounds like Brinia accidentally let go of that crutch she was using, blurting out the wendigo’s first name. “S-sorry, Master.”

"Careful now, Alistora." Brinia couldn't see it, but Eia was smirking to herself, eagerly watching as the dryad's willpower slowly broke. "Do remember what's on the line here~"

Brinia choked up, slowly losing her ability to hold back tears. She knew that the whole village was on the line, but her brain couldn't help but think of her daughter first and foremost. "I remember..."

"Don't let me down, Alistora." Eia ran her finger's over the dryad's skin one last time before turning away, knowing exactly what it was that her bride was thinking about. "And don't let **her** down either, she's counting on you~"

Brinia gritted her teeth, unable to hold back either the tears rolling from her eyes or the blood and juices rolling down her thigh. "I won't let you hurt her..."

"Oh yeah?" Eia's laugh was neither a playful chuckle or a sinister cackle, but somewhere in the middle. "Just try and stop me."

"What do you think this is, demon?" Brinia spat back, her faced flushing hotter with every second. "I'm not doing this for you..."

"Not yet, you aren't~" Eia giggled, and this time her laugh was most certainly a sinister cackle. Brinia was being insolent now, but she didn't strike the dryad, she made no attempt to purposefully knock the poor aching little slave over. 

She could have easily shoved the pixie girl to the floor as punishment. Both of them knew that Brinia wouldn't be able to pull herself back up after that, and she would ultimately fail to follow even the simplest of her master's orders. But neither of them wanted that, not even Eia.

The wendigo didn't want to hurt the dryad, not like she had wanted to hurt the yeti when she first claimed Noriza as her bride. She now had twice as many brides as she did back then, and that made her twice the master she once was. She wasn't doing this out of a sick sense of revenge, she was doing this because she wanted the dryad. She yearned to hear the forest's former guardian lovingly purr for her, and the key to achieving that, like she had done with the rest of her brides, was with a stern but patient hand. 

So while the fiendish forest monster was perfectly willing to roll the druid onto her back and tend to her wounds, she wasn't going to do so unless Brinia threw in the towel. 

And to Eia's delight, Brinia was not at all ready to throw in the towel.

Alistora was riding a fine line between stubbornness and determination, and her master appreciated that the dryad was the best of both worlds in that regard. 

So while she could personally discipline the dryad's insolence, Eia decided to let Brinia punish herself, by leaving her here alone with her thoughts, letting her have the time and space she needed to cry in peace, all by herself.


	14. Letting Her Stew

_ I guess you’re tougher than you look, huh? _

Eia smiled, more than satisfied by the sight of what lay in front of her as she stepped into her chamber. Brinia Alistora had a deliciously gorgeous body, like a plump little fruit ripe for the plucking. 

It was made all that much sweeter seeing how she had kept her word, her round little tailside presenting itself to her master as she stepped through the door. 

Of course she was tougher than she looked, especially when she made herself out to look like an adorable little houseplant. Brinia had gone so far as growing flowers in her hair for the wendigo’s enjoyment. 

She might have looked like a sweet delicious little fruit, but she definitely had some poison in her, it took a great deal of strength to be able to hold herself in that position all day, and it had clearly taken its toll on her. 

From the looks of it, she had been fluttering on the edge of unconsciousness for a while now, and though she wasn’t quite asleep just yet, she definitely wasn’t hearing her master’s footsteps as the larger woman approached her. 

Eia would lead by being sweet to her cute little thing in return if she thought it would help. But Brinia wasn’t the type to appreciate a pat on the back, let alone being praised for her performance. The thing to do now was to give her some new instructions to follow, and ultimately let her rest.

“I see you haven’t stopped dripping onto my bed.” Eia made her way over to the side of her bed, making sure that the dryad could see her and register her presence before she grabbed the girl by the back of her collar, hoisting her up off of her knees and gently setting her back down on her stomach. 

Eia watched the dryad grit her teeth. Brinia could have kept that up all night, but being moved out of position by her master was enough for her to understand that it was time to be done presenting, whether she liked it or not. 

Brinia’s trance had long since faded away, and her little session with Noriza had finished up several hours prior, but she was still dripping, and there was nothing she could do to hide the fact that she was still wet to her master. 

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.” Brinia could and would have offered to clean up after herself, but she didn’t want to. 

Eia rolled her newest slave onto her back, letting her finally be free of the accursed shame that came with being left face down for several hours. “Hold still, slave.”

Brinia blushed, nodding her head and holding her tongue as she allowed the other woman to part her legs, whimpering under her breath as Eia began placing kisses around her genitals, trying to use her unnatural healing magic to help soothe the weaker archfey’s aching and bleeding cunt. 

_ Hold still, slave.  _ The words were ringing in Brinia’s head, and she was only just beginning to realize how much she appreciated them. It was a direct order, impossible to misunderstand, and near impossible to screw up. 

It hadn’t been pleasant, but she had done as she was told, and this was her reward for staying still and holding herself in a submissive position all evening. 

Eia could feel Brinia tensing up as she laid there, letting the wendigo use her own healing kisses on her sore, bruised, little cunt. But she still managed to keep quiet and sit through it, not making so much as a peep until it was over. 

“You have healing magic too.” Brinia laid her head back, not so much as looking at the wendigo as she spoke. There was nothing to gain from scanning the monster’s moves to anticipate her attacks, and everything to gain from showing the beast that she was deliberately making herself helpless and vulnerable, open to attack. “Why didn’t I know?”

“Are you wondering why I didn’t tell you? Or are you kicking yourself for not noticing sooner?” 

Brinia bit her lip, shaking her head in witless confusion. It was clear to them both that though the dryad was conscious, she wasn’t exactly cognizant enough to have a deliberate and thoughtful conversation right now. 

“Slave.” Eia smirked, wanting to have just a little bit more fun with the dryad before it was time for bed. “I answered your question, now I expect you to either hear you answer my question, or to hear you admit that you aren’t capable of speaking on equal terms with me right now.”

She growled under her breath, just like Eia often did, slowly but surely picking up some of her master’s tendencies. “I can’t talk right now, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, dearie~” Brinia could feel Eia’s claws on her navel, slowly tracing their way up the dryad’s belly as if she was walking a stick person with her hands. “Those aren’t the words… come on, make your master’s night fun for her~”

“I’m not doing this for you.” Brinia winced, failing to hold out a light gasp as she continued to feel Eia’s claws on her skin. 

“But you’re going to do just this one little thing for me aren’t you, girly?” Eia’s claws made it all the way to Brinia’s collarbone before she slowly slid them back down to her wet little cunt. “Come on… I’m asking nicely~”

Brinia was getting flustered, biting her lip as she held back pitiful little squeaks brought on from being played with by her master’s claws. “Is this an order?”

“Not if you don’t want it to be~” Eia was on the bed next to her, flirting playfully. She could easily just order the words out of Brinia’s mouth, but she loved hearing the dryad write that sweet little poem for her back in the village, and she wanted to hear more. “What were the words you used… Anything you so desire-”

“I vow to be what you require.” Brinia finished the line for her, the poem still committed to memory. “I give my everything to you. For all the things that you can do. My head, my hand, my soul, my heart. I pray that we will never part.”

Eia was delighted to hear them again, and it actually made Brinia a little bit happy to hear the wendigo seemingly over the moon, squeeing gleefully as she recited the poem she wrote. “Skip to the last verse, that one was my favorite~”

Brinia sighed, her cheeks turning red as she skipped to the last few lines. “To belong to you is all I crave. You have my word that I’ll behave. Please spare the souls I couldn’t save… And let me be your loving slave.”

Eia smiled, getting up on her elbows to give the dryad a round of applause. “Can you believe that was only four days ago?”

“Did you… actually like it?” Brinia slowly sat up, flinching at the pain in her groin as she did so. “You weren’t very enthusiastic at the time…”

“I liked it enough to accept you as my final bride, didn’t I?” Eia’s smile reassured the dryad. “And I would  **like** for you to humiliate yourself some more~”

_ Right, she wants  _ **_me_ ** _ to be the one to humiliate myself…  _ Brinia sighed, feeling her sore little cunt beginning to drip, closing her legs in shame. Her pride had been dealt some pretty severe blows, but it could take a few more hits. “I… I’m not capable of speaking to you on equal terms right now… Master…”

“See honey, that’s not so hard is it?” Eia smiled, watching Brinia shrink backwards into the bed as she approached her. Her face flushed with both anger and humiliation as the wendigo poked her on the nose with one finger. “Sit tight and wait for me to get back, I need to go fetch dinner, we’ve got an exhausting day ahead of us tomorrow, and after thinking it over Master has decided that she  **is** going to force feed you tonight~”

_ Of course she is. I just can’t escape this.  _

Brinia groaned, wondering if she should take this moment to play with her still aching flower while the wendigo was gone. But the wendigo wasn’t gone long enough for her to gather the confidence to do so, quickly returning to her chamber with dinner.

But dinner wasn’t the only thing that Eia returned with, she did bring back a tray topped with bowls of what was presumably rabbit stew, but she wasn’t the one carrying them inside. 

“I can carry them for you little one, no need for you to strain yourself.” It shouldn’t have been abnormal for a master to have their slave do all of the work for them, but apparently this wasn’t her own decision. She lurched over the smaller woman, insisting on her slave taking it easy, but the other girl wasn’t having any of it. 

“I’m not going to strain myself, I’m fine, Ma’am.” Arleena. Sweet, cute, preciously insecure Arleena.

It gave Brinia pause, realizing that of the many glyphs that were once painted on her skin, only the faintly glowing yellow glyph and the mysteriously ominous grey glyph remained. Where once there were nine glyphs, there were now only two. 

The pink glyph on the far right was for everyone's favorite aquatic lovebird, Marima. 

The purple glyph beside it was for the sinister snake lady, Tishula.

The blue glyph to that one’s left was Izona’s glyph, Eia’s first and most loyal bride. 

The cyan glyph that had only just faded tonight belonged to Noriza, who Brinia now recognized and remembered. 

In the very center was that strange yellow glyph that was so hard to see it was almost invisible, and it apparently belonged to that harpy woman, Valonda… if that was her name, Brinia wasn’t completely sure that she wasn’t getting the name wrong. 

Next to that one had been an orange glyph, the first one to go since Eia immediately revoked Zaikana’s right to even have a turn with the dryad after everything she pulled that night in the woods.

The red glyph, of course, belonged to Cerilla, who Brinia now had a much deeper understanding and impression for. 

To the left of that red glyph was the grey glyph, but on the other side of said grey glyph was the brown glyph, Demma’s glyph, rounding out the whole array. 

But that grey glyph right there, that one belonged to Arleena, and Brinia was not looking forward to letting Arleena have a shot at her, not after what she had done to the poor girl. 

“Dinner is served, Master.” Arleena set the tray down on Eia’s bedside table and bowed for her master, trying not to glance over at the naked dryad on the bed. But Brinia wasn’t afraid to look at her, yet as she did so, she noticed something curious about the tray out of the corner of her eye. 

_ Four bowls? Why are there four bowls? _ Assuming that Arleena was going to be in here eating with them, there were only three women in the room, why would they need four bowls?

“Thank you, Arleena.” Eia spoke, and as she did the wraith snapped to attention, eager to impress her master, and since Arleena wanted to make herself useful, Eia was quick to give her something she could do. “I need to go drag a couple more of your sisters out of hiding, and Demmara needs to eat tonight.”

“I’ll head to the stables right away, Master.”

“Izona has my saddle bag, while you’re out there I need you to go grab it and bring it back here.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Brinia watched the wraith woman head back out of the room before she was comfortable speaking, just barely getting her word in before Eia did the same. “Would you like me to help?”

“Hold still and sharpen your thorns, my dazzling little rose, Master will get to you soon.” Brinia expected one of Eia’s usual snappy and sarcastic answers, but just as she had promised she would do, Eia wasn’t going to speak to the dryad on equal terms. “You’ve done more than enough to satisfy me for today, I plan on using you tomorrow, I will tell you when I need you, so save your strength until then.”

Before Eia could leave, Arleena was back, having retrieved the wendigo’s saddle bag in a flash, holding it out to her master and awaiting further orders.

“Brinia will be taking Izona’s place as my handmaiden tomorrow, give her a quick rundown on what I’m going to expect from her.” Eia simply pointed towards Brinia, giving both her and the wraith a good idea for what exactly it was that their master was planning on using her for. “Your new little sister says she’s incapable of conversation, so keep your explanations simple for her.”

Arleena nodded, and that was all of the acknowledgement that the wendigo needed before heading back out of the room. Brinia’s eyes were still following her out of the room when Arleena reached up to unclasp the leash from her collar. 

The undead woman’s hands trembled when they got anywhere near the dryad, and Brinia took notice of that. She wanted to stop and apologize to her for not being able to find her sword, but she got the feeling that Arleena didn’t really want to hear it.

“You’re coming along with us tomorrow.” Arleena tossed the end of the leash onto the bed beside the archfey, setting the saddlebag onto the floor next to the bedside table. “But don’t get any ideas, Master and I will do the hunting, you’re just there to carry her saddlebag and take care of her steed.”

Brinia didn’t want to have a conversation with the zombie girl right now, and her new sister clearly didn’t expect her to be able to have one anyways, so she just sat quietly as she listened to Arleena explain what was going to happen on the hunting trip, waiting for Eia to eventually return. 

Eia practically kicked the door open this time, her hands full with two of her other brides as she dragged them both inside by their hair. Well, one of them had hair to be dragged in by, at least. “Settle down slave, we’re almost there.”

“IT HURTSSS, MASSSTER!!!” Tishula couldn’t see where she was or where she was going, not only on account of being blind, but also on account of having her eyes clamped shut in pain. 

The wendigo kicked the door closed behind her as soon as she got inside, promptly tossing the medusa onto the floor at the foot of her bed, finally letting go of the snakes attached to her head who had spent the whole affair both choking and desperately trying not to bite their host’s master.

“Please don’t throw me…” Marima seemed to be doing slightly better being dragged in by her hair, having grabbed ahold of Eia’s fuzzy forearm as she floated above the ground, her mermaid tail swaying behind her. She was as adorable as she always was, and she continued to be so as her master gently set her down on the floor instead of dropping her. 

“I- I sssaid sssorry already, M-Massster…” Tishula gasped, coughing for breath after being slammed onto the floor. “She wasss an assssassssin, she’sss sssilent and sssneaky, and she sssmellsss like a  **rock** !! She’sss jusst asss invisssible to me asss the sssongbirdsss are to you!!”

“You’re purpose in life is to be my guard dog, Tishula. If you can’t fulfill your job requirements, then either you need a new role to fulfill, or I need to replace you.” 

“I never asssked to be here in the firssst place!!” Tishula hissed loudly at her, before immediately softening up for her master. “But… pleassse don’t replace me…” 

“I’m not planning on replacing you, my love.” Eia stepped towards her, tapping her furry clawed foot on the ground impatiently until the snake lady constricted herself around her leg, which made the wendigo smile almost instantly. 

“You promissse?” It was astonishing to see the once terrifying snake lady like this, the former slave owner now coiling herself around her master’s leg, desperate to belong to her. 

“Tishula my dear, the stew is getting cold, and I need you to keep your strength up.” Eia gently reached down and touched her head, not to pull her along by her hair again, but just to gently pet her. “Do as Master says and eat, you’re going to be following your sister into the waiting chamber soon… aren’t you excited?”

“Maybe a little bit…” Tishula leaned back against the wall, detaching herself from her master’s leg and nodding at her. 

“If this is all the food we have before the hunting trip, why am I being fed, Master?” Marima floated over to sit with Tishula, carrying two bowls of rabbit stew with her. 

“Because you’re my precious little princess, and I like spoiling you.” Eia situated herself on the bed along with Arleena and Brinia, facing the both of them. “Besides, I’ve already force fed Zaikana, and I have no one else who wants any~”

Eia stopped and frowned, looking over both of the brides in front of her and thinking over how she wanted to do this. 

“I want your hands and arms behind your back, both of you.” Eia demonstrated what she wanted, holding her own arms behind her back like a box tie. It wasn’t until she did this that she realized that the Hollow’s Heart was still attached to her hip. “And while I’m at it… I’m sure your sister informed you that you’ll be carrying the staff around for me tomorrow~”

“She didn’t, actually…” Brinia shot Arleena a quick glance out of the corner of her eye as she held her arms behind her back. She could see that it took a fair amount of effort on Arleena’s part not to feel guilty about that.

“Well, after what happened tonight, I’ve come to the decision of placing the Hollow’s Heart under your care for the foreseeable future.” Eia smiled, pulling the bowls of stew into her lap as she set the staff aside. “I am  **not** returning ownership of it back to you, nor am I giving it to you for you to utilize. I am simply trusting you to keep it safe for me~” 

“I can do that…” Brinia bit her lip nervously, watching Eia hold up the first spoonful of stew to her lips, expecting her to open her mouth and eat it.

She didn’t want to, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. Even if it wasn’t ordinary rabbit stew, Eia expected her to eat it all the same.

She opened her mouth, subjecting herself to the humiliation of being fed off the end of Eia’s spoon, before watching Arleena do the same thing immediately afterward. 

It didn’t taste terrible, but Brinia still hated it. She knew exactly what she was being fed, and she couldn’t stand it, and clearly neither could Arleena.

↞✶↠

Eia immediately moved on to getting herself and her brides ready for bed once she had finished feeding the pair of girls on the bed. Judging by the empty bowls, Marima and the snake woman had also finished eating the dish that they had been given, despite not being force fed by their mistress. 

“Here’sss thessse, Massster had me make them for you to sssleep in.” The snake woman slithered on up to the dryad, holding out a bundle of clothes for her little sister. “She sssaysss that you got your dressss all dirty while playing outssside, ssso I went ahead and washed it for you, it’sss hanging out to dry now, and should be ready by sssunrissse~”

She looked them over to make sure she knew what they were before taking them. They were a small set of simple brown pajamas made out of fur, presumably from an animal that either Eia or her brides had hunted themselves, rather than a store bought hide or an article of clothing sold in the village. “Is this all of them?”

“What do you mean  _ isss thisss all of them?  _ It’sss more than I would like to be giving you, that’sss for sure.” Tishula hissed at her, growing annoyed at the dryad’s seemingly disrespectful tone. “Jussst be glad that Massster wanted you to have them at all, or I wouldn’t have wasssted the lassst of our deer hide on  **you** .”

The dryad wasn’t sure what to say at first, quickly glancing over at Eia in the corner, who was sitting with Marima in her lap as she carefully brushed the mermaid’s hair before bed. Brinia usually tried to be friendly and respectful, but it seemed like Eia had tuned out of listening to her for the day, and she was in no mood to offer any sort of apologies to the heinous snake woman. “I’m sure you’ll have more hides to work with after tomorrow.”

“I had better.” Tishula scoffed at her before practically shoving the garments into the dryad’s chest before slinking back off towards the pair of other women on the floor. “Or elssse you had better not accept any more favorsss from me.”

Brinia blushed, reluctantly accepting the pair of fur garments, noticing that there still weren’t any undergarments to go with them. In her haste that morning, she hadn’t even noticed that she had been stripped naked before she woke up, but now that she remembered wearing the gown after getting out of the bath, she shuddered. 

There might be four of Eia’s brides in here now, but it had just been Brinia and Noriza when she had woken up this morning, and the yeti woman surely hadn’t been the one to undress the dryad. Eia had removed it in her sleep.

Brinia didn’t have much left with regards to her dignity, but the one thing she hadn’t been deprived of since arriving here was sleep. She may have only had the gown, but even having that taken away from her while she was unconscious mortified her. 

If Eia could strip her bare while she slept, what else had she been doing to the dryad that she wasn’t telling her about? What was she doing that no one was being shown?

Like a rabbit, she loved to breed day in and day out, had she already gotten Brinia pregnant without her new bride even knowing it?

_ What am I doing here?  _ Brinia clutched her stomach, feeling it churn at just the thought of it. Eia was in every sense of the word, a monster. There should be no question to what the correct course of action here was, Brinia lived to kill monsters that threatened the safety of her home and the lives of her people, and these girls that Eia had taken were her people. 

Even if her many brides didn’t want to accept it, Eia was a monster that needed to be killed, for their own good and for the good of everyone else in the hollow, it was something that needed to be done. 

If Eia could strip Brinia of all of her clothing while she slept, then Brinia could very well return the favor, and tonight was as good of a night to do it as any. Eia had violated any and all of Brinia’s right to her own privacy and her own body, but it wasn’t being touched in her sleep, or even the near constant rape at the hands of her and her brides that brought her to this decision. It was how she treated her own children.

These antlered rabbits weren’t  **just** Eia’s kittens, they were Noriza’s children. Brinia prayed to the gods, absent as they may be, that she wasn’t already pregnant- but if she was, she most certainly didn’t want to see a creature that she carried and birthed having their neck snapped to be cooked into some stew because the monster woman was hungry. 

Hunting helpless creatures was one thing, but cannibalizing one’s own children was another. That’s just not something that a loving partner does, especially if she claims to care about her brides. 

“Get dressed, you ass.” Brinia heard herself suddenly being scolded by a voice she didn’t often hear, it was obvious to see that Arleena still hated her, and it was rare to hear the other girl address her at all, so she really shouldn’t be surprised that when she did finally say something, it was because she was upset. “That stag was all we had from the  **last** hunting trip we went on. You know, the one you ruined by almost turning me back into a corpse?” 

Arleena had been shy, nervous, and scared around the dryad at first, but now she was just upset. She didn’t like how the smaller girl was addressing her, but even she couldn’t blame Arleena for holding a grudge, she  **had** almost gotten killed that night after all. 

Arleena, the once dark elf turned wraith, was another one of those creatures that really straddled the line between person and monster. The fog wastes were  _ “uninhabited”  _ in a sense, but that only really meant that there weren’t any settlements or people living there, in reality they were filled with terrible monsters who threatened the safety of all settlements still standing in the Eternal Hollow, which included but was certainly not limited to the village of Thorn. 

Clearly Brinia realized that she had made a mistake when it came to almost killing Arleena, but she couldn’t really blame herself for thinking that the girl was a zombie, she was quite  _ literally  _ undead. Arleena’s heart didn’t beat, her lungs didn’t take in any air, her blood didn’t flow, Brinia wasn’t even sure that she actually needed to eat, but Eia made sure was fed well anyways. 

But Arleena had been a person once, and from the looks of it… she was still the same girl she was when she had been alive. Frightened, nervous, insecure, and lost. Just like most people were right now. 

Brinia sighed, nodding her head and silently putting the garments on. Arleena didn’t want a conversation, or even a response, so she wasn’t going to get one. 

“This looks…” Brinia swallowed nervously as she glanced over at Tishula, not sure what to make of the fur clothes, she never was one for wearing animal skins. The dryad whined under her breath as she barely managed to thank the snake woman. “Thank you, Tishula.”

“It looks just fine, Alistora.” Brinia felt the wendigo’s claws running through her hair as Eia climbed into the bed from behind her. “Would you like me to do your hair as well?”

“No, thank you.” Brinia reached behind her and grabbed her hair in her hands, pulling it away from the monster’s vile grasp. “I would rather not.”

“That’s alright, don’t need to get snippy at me my little slave, a simple yes or no would have sufficed~” Eia gently pushed the dryad aside, getting settled into the center of the bed. “Not a fan of furs I suppose, huh?”

“Why don’t you just trade with the village for clothes if you need it that badly?” Brinia furled her eyebrows, looking down at the garments. They were honestly fine, Tishula was an amazing craftsman, despite not being able to see. It was where the garments came from that bothered her. “Why don’t you trade for food while you’re at it, if it’s so hard to sustain yourself by hunting?”

“Because who’s going to trade with  **us,** Alistora?” Brinia got too complacent, letting the wendigo catch her off guard by once again slipping her fingers into the dryad’s leafy green hair and yanking her to her master’s chest. “Look around you right now and try to tell me that’s not a stupid question. Is that a stupid question, slave?”

Brinia wanted to tear into the wendigo with just her claws, but she didn’t have any. She had whittled down all of her thorns to make herself pretty for her abductor, so now she had nothing she could hurt Eia with. “It’s a stupid question…  **Ma’am** .”

“ **That’s** why we don’t trade, slave.” Eia let go of the dryad’s hair, shoving her face down onto the bed. “Because who’s going to sell supplies to  **slaves** ?”

Brinia gritted her teeth, snarling into the blankets below. “Nobody… Nobody’s going to sell to slaves…”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Eia grabbed her by the hair once again and yanked her back upright. “Would you like to try again?” 

“Nobody’s going to sell supplies to slaves, Master.” Brinia amended herself, swallowing her rage and holding back her fists. 

“Blaston Rakes, Ziliconz Gurail, Olton Reinart, and Vaaz Demorro.” Eia let go of the dryad, watching Brinia collect herself and turn to her. 

“How…” Brinia’s heart completely stopped beating as Eia began to list them out. She knew those names, those were villagers, and hearing the wendigo list them out like this instantly sent her into a panic. “How do you know those names?”

“You always ask stupid questions. You always speak out of line. You always have the nerve to talk back to me. You always think it’s okay to  **disrespect** me. Don’t you, slave?” Eia rolled her eyes, relaxing into bed next to Arleena as she ran her fingers through the wraith’s hair instead. “ **Those** , my dear, are the names of four villagers who have already lost something thanks to your behavior.”

Brinia’s eyes widen with horror. She had no idea that what she was doing had been causing pain to her people.  **She didn’t know** . “What did you do to them?”

“I have simply done what I have been promising to do since day one… punishing  **them** for your transgressions.” Eia frowned, pulling on Arleena’s hair to blow off steam. 

“So you killed them?!” Brinia shouted, practically screeching at her. “You said that you would be satisfied with obedience for today?!”

“And I have been… but tomorrow I will need more than just  **basic obedience** .” Eia didn’t even bother to turn back to the dryad. “Rest assured tonight that none of them have died yet, but if things don’t shape up soon, that will change… Rhakkiza Nairi will be next, and you’ll have her  **life** to answer for.”

Brinia choked on her words before she could say them, barely managing to let out a pained plea for forgiveness. The anxiety in her eyes was a sight that was unmatched when it came to the dryad. “Please…”

“Please what, slave?” Eia glared her directly in the eyes, not even so much as smirking in her. “I’m satisfied with just obedience for today, but you are beginning to stretch that thin.”

“Please don’t hurt her…” Brinia swallowed her anger, knowing that getting enraged would only make things worse. “Master…”

“I don’t find much pleasure in causing senseless pain upon creatures I neither know nor care about, I would much prefer beating fear into my own slaves and watching them squirm under my grasp.” Brinia watched helplessly as the wendigo curled said grasp around the charm on her collar. “But you already know exactly what I need from you in order to make that happen, don’t you?”

“Absolute submission…” Brinia couldn’t breathe, it was like all of a sudden she was drowning again, being pulled into the depths of her own despair anew.

“And what happens if I don’t get it?” Eia pulled her up by her collar, making sure that Brinia was looking her in the eyes.

“You kill the people I love, Master…” Brinia curled her fist into the furs of her shorts, desperately trying to put herself back into line before Eia did it for her.

“Do you want that to happen?”

“No, Master.”

“Do  **I** want that to happen?”

“No, Master.”

“Your master does not care whether or not your people live or die, Alistora.” Eia released her grasp on the dryad’s collar, letting her fall to her knees on the bed. “All I care about is getting what I want from you, and what I want from you is absolute submission.”

“And you’ll get it, Master. I swear to the gods, you’ll get it.” Brinia could feel her hands trembling even as she curled them into fists, her heart now beating harder than it ever had before. “I’m sorry…”

“I’m not the only one you should be apologizing to, am I, Alistora?” Eia pulled the blankets over herself and over Arleena, dimming the lights for bed. “Maybe you should be apologizing to the people who have gotten hurt because of you.”

“I will, Master. I will…” Brinia was still choking on her tears, trying not to cry as she scanned around the room at the looks on her sister’s faces. “I’m sorry…”

“Your words can dig you out of this hole you’ve dug for yourself, Alistora. Not tonight.” The wendigo turned away from her, laying down with her back to the dryad for the night. “If I wake up tomorrow morning and you’ve done so much as get out of bed without permission, the gnome girl is dead. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master…” Brinia shut the thought of it out of her brain, unable to even consider the possibility. “I understand…”

↞✶↠

Marima and Tishula fell asleep bundled together in the opposite corner of the room, exactly where Brinia wanted to be right now, as far away from the bed as they could possibly be.

Arleena had fallen asleep in Eia’s arms, and Eia had fallen asleep with her arms around Arleena.

But Brinia had yet to fall asleep. 

She had no idea what time of night it was, but she supposed that it was still before dark, judging by how Eia hadn’t woken up yet, and Eia usually woke up before the dryad did. 

Brinia was instructed not to get out of bed, but thankfully she didn’t even need to get up to retrieve her staff from the floor beside the bed, pulling it to her chest and clutching it close. 

_ What am I even doing here… this isn’t working.  _ Brinia had thought that giving in and becoming Eia’s slave had been the best way to go about it, but people continued to get hurt because of her, and soon more were bound to die if something didn’t change.  _ You can’t let her do this to them, Alistora… _

At first she had thought that it was possible to save them, but now she knew better. Eia Madaerie was a monster, nothing more, nothing less.

And monsters like her deserved to be slain.

This whole affair may have only been going on for the last five days, but it had already gone on long enough, and it was time to put an end to it. She  **had to** do what she could to put an end to the atrocities of this terrible fiendish monster. Even if it killed her. 

Eia was asleep, and if she was really going to do this, that meant  **now** was the best time to do it.

She still couldn’t feel the magic of the staff, but once she stopped the beast’s heart, it would come back to her, and she could finally go back to protecting the people she loved. The Hollow’s Heart was still a weapon, and that meant she could send it plunging through the wendigo’s throat, and put an end to all of this once and for all. 

Brinia grasped the staff as tight as she could, making sure that none of her sisters, or more importantly, the wendigo wasn’t awake to stop her. She took a deep breath, and she raised the staff above her head, getting ready to kill Eia Madaerie. 

**_You aren’t really going to do this, are you?_ **

It was that voice in her head, the one that she didn’t yet understand, talking to her in her own mind, where no one else could hear her voice, whoever she was. 

**_Stop and think this through for a moment, Brinia._ **

_ Who the hell are you? _

Brinia thought to herself, maybe if it was speaking to her in her mind, she could speak back to it all the same. 

**_I’m… a part of you… and I’ve been a part of you since long before Eia got to you._ **

_ That doesn’t answer my question… what does that even mean? _

**_It means I need you to put… the staff… down._ **

_ And why should I do anything that you say? _

**_Because I can read your thoughts… and I know that you know this is a bad idea._ **

_ How is this a bad idea? She’s hurting the people I’m supposed to protect? What other choice do I have? What else am I supposed to do? _

**_…Do as she says?_ ** The voice in her head was taking a very different tone to the one that it had taken just earlier in the day, desperate to try and reason with the dryad.  **_Try your best to do better from now on?_ **

Brinia’s hands trembled as she lowered the staff back into her lap, her heart pounding as she rethought exactly it was that she was doing. 

_ I don’t know what to do… _

**_I don’t either… I can only read your mind, not hers._ **

_ Even if I fail… what’s the worst thing that could happen? _

**_You end up getting yourself killed… as well as everyone you and I have ever loved._ **

_ What if I keep going and she keeps hurting the people I love all the same? What happens if I keep going and still fail… and I end up getting them all killed anyways? _

**_You’re not going to fail, I’m sure of that… I know you can do this._ **

_ All of this is only if she ends up surviving… what if I kill her right here and now? What’s wrong with that? _

**_Stop and think about what you’re asking, Brinia… I know you know the answer to that._ **

_ Maybe I do and I’m just choosing to ignore it… or maybe I don’t. _

**_If you kill Eia right now… you’ll ruin not just her life, but the lives of nine other women who are depending on her._ **

_ They’ll get to go back to their families. _

**_But how do you know they want to?_ **

_ Just today, Noriza told me what Eia did to bring her here. _

**_I remember… I was there, but I distinctly remember her saying something else that you’re leaving out._ **

_ …You don’t really think Noriza loves her, do you? _

**_I think she does… How else can her pups mean so much to her? Why else would she do this for so many years?_ **

_ She’s doing it to protect her daughter. _

**_And what about Tishula and Marima, just over there… or Arleena laying in her arms right now? How can you possibly explain this to them if they find you standing over her with a bloody spear?_ **

_ They’ll be happier away from her. _

**_Will they? Really? All of them? Can you really tell me that Izona would be better off without her master?_ **

_ Izona is an exception. _

**_Is she actually an exception? Or do you think that just maybe the rest of them feel the same?_ **

_ I… I don’t know… _

**_And what about Cerilla… and Zaikana? You and I have failed to stop them both once already… say you do kill Eia, and we once again can’t beat them, what happens then?_ **

Brinia didn’t have anything else to answer with, gently pulling the magical staff to her chest as she felt the tears welling up in her eyes. 

**_We don’t know half of these women… how can we possibly know that this is the right thing to do?_ **

_ Because she’s a monster!! _

**_Maybe she is a monster!! But maybe she isn’t!!_ **

_ What do I have to gain from going along with all of this? _

**_That’s something that I can’t answer for you, Brinia… but you and I are in this together… and I just thought it only fair to get my piece in before you do something that might get us both killed…_ **

_ …Do you really think this is the right thing to do? Why say something now?? Why not speak up sooner?? _

**_Because I’ve agreed with you on every step of the way so far, Brinia… You’ve already gotten this far… you can do this…_ **

_ But I shouldn’t  _ **_have to_ ** _ do this…  _

**_No… you shouldn’t, and I know it’s not fair… but I’m always going to be here with you to help you along…_ **

_ Who… who are you? _

**_I’m your best friend, Brinia… If you haven’t figured that much out, then I don’t really know what to say._ **

_ I still don’t understand, I don’t understand any of this… If you’re a part of me, then why haven’t you spoken to me before? _

**_We HAVE spoken before, Brinia… It’s just been so long that you’ve forgotten…_ **

Brinia swallowed nervously, feeling a small stream of tears trickling down her cheeks as she looked down into her lap, clinging to the Hollow’s Heart for safety. 

_ Will I get to hear from you again? _

**_Of course you will, stupid… I’m not going anywhere very fast…_ **

_ When? When will I hear from you again? _

**_When you NEED to hear from me again, you’ll hear from me again…_ **

_ What if what I NEED is for you to stay? What if I need someone to talk to? _

**_If you need someone to talk to, why not start with talking to your master?_ **

_ I can do that…  _

Brinia looked up from the blankets beneath her feet and over towards Eia, still asleep, still cuddling with Arleena… and she set the staff back down onto the floor. 

_ I can start with her…  _

The dryad took a deep breath, sniffling back her tears as she reached out towards Eia, gently setting one hand on the wendigo’s shoulder, trying to quietly shake her awake without bothering any of her sisters.

And sure enough, it worked. Eia groaned as she rolled over, slipping her arm out from beneath Arleena without waking the wraith up. “Is something wrong, Alistora?”

Brinia had exhausted all of the words that she could say for the day, what she needed right now was a little bit of comfort, and unfortunately for her, the only person around who could give her that was Eia Madaerie. 

The dryad couldn’t even force out a desperate plea or even the word  _ Master  _ as she pushed herself into Eia’s lap, breaking down into a quiet stream of tears as the wendigo wrapped her arms around her bride. 

Eia sighed, suddenly left wondering what in the world had gotten into poor Alistora as she laid back down on her side, bringing the dryad with her. “Okay…”

That was it. That was all Brinia got from Eia before she drifted off to sleep. She didn’t really know what she wanted, but all she got to hear from her master was  _ okay _ , and that was all she really needed right now. To let herself be seen like this, and the very least, not get mocked or rejected for doing so. 

Eia once again began running her fingers in the poor girl’s hair, and this time Brinia didn’t pull away, and because she didn’t have to force herself onto the former guardian against her will, Eia didn’t feel the need to be too harsh to the dryad. 

The two of them didn’t need to push themselves any further tonight. Getting to be in the wendigo’s arms without being harmed was enough for the dryad, and getting to gently pet Alistora without having to watch the dryad try to struggle out of her grasp was enough for the wendigo. Just that was enough.

At least for tonight. That was enough for them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 15: Complete  
> Chapter 16: Complete  
> Chapter 17: Complete  
> Chapter 18: In Progress


	15. In Her Own Juice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kept you waiting, huh?

Brinia gripped her staff as tight as she could, scanning her surroundings to make sure no one was watching her, she couldn’t be sure that it was safe to do what she was about to do.

The forest sounded empty, but it didn’t feel empty. 

The dryad knelt over the loudly whining cockatrice, looking over its injuries. The poor creature had been shot in the neck with an arrow, and it had clearly been recent. 

_ Someone is here with us… but where? _

Brinia Alistora. It just had to be Brinia Alistora who decided to come and take her prey. Arleena was born an elf, and that meant she was quick, nimble, flexible, and graceful. At least she used to be all those things, before she died, but coming back to life had taken a huge toll on her. 

If she had the quickness and reflexes that she once had, she would have already killed the beast and gotten away before the dryad ever had a chance to catch her. But she wasn’t an elf anymore, she was a wraith. She was still fast, but she was slower than she once was. She was flexible, but a little bit more stiff than she once was. She was graceful, but a little bit more awkward than she once was. 

Now here she decided to lie in wait, lurking in the treetops above the forest’s guardian, hoping not to be spotted as the dryad stole her prey out from under her nose. 

_ This isn’t fair…  _ Arleena cursed herself under the breath. It was really rare for her to find large prey out here in the fog wastes, and even rarer for her to be able to catch them. Yet as soon as she finally did get a shot in on that stupid cockatrice, the dryad had to swoop in and take it away from her.  _ How is this fair? _

She had a bow given to her by a dead parent on her back, and her beloved sword, Montemaster, strapped to her hip. So there she sat, waiting for the dryad to just get up and leave, but she just wasn’t doing it. For some reason, Alistora had become seemingly obsessed with the large dying bird. 

“Hold still and I’ll make it better.” Brinia sat beside the cockatrice, smiling at it and sighing as she pulled the arrow from its shoulder, watching it shriek in pain. “Stay with me, big guy~”

It was hard for Brinia to see very far here in the expanse of fog, but it seemed like the coast was clear, at least for now. 

Brinia Alistora was the guardian of the forest, and that meant she had a connection to every creature that lived inside it, from the people down to the animals, and even the trees. Brinia cared for all of them.

So when Alistora came across an injured and dying cockatrice lying helpless on the forest floor, crying out with an arrow plunged into its shoulder, she was going to do her best to help and nurture it so that it can get back out into living life in the forest, wild and free. 

And Arleena hated that. 

The dryad gently applied pressure to the cockatrice’s injury with her hands, trying to make sure it didn’t bleed out before she could heal it. Then she did what she needed to, leaning down and gently applying kisses to the creature’s skin, as well as the back of her own hands, trying to heal the wound beneath it.

This usually took a while if it was just her own power, but like always, she had the power of the Hollow’s Heart to help her magical healing along, and after just a few moments, she lifted her hands, and the wound was gone. “There you go, big guy~”

_ Oh yeah, go right ahead, undo hours of my hard work, that’s fine…  _ Arleena growled to herself, trying not to outright seethe watching the dryad undo the only shot she’d hit on the beast she had been hunting and tracking for upwards of two hours.

The cockatrice slowly lifted its head, gently nuzzling into the dryad’s chest, cooing at the faerie woman as thanks for helping it. It was so sweet that it made the wraith sick.  _ Now it loves her, gross. _

Arleena was almost jealous of it. Even when she was alive she had never had a pet that loved with, and ever since the fateful run in that had ended her life, anytime someone laid eyes on her, the first thing they did was one of two things; They either screamed and ran for their life or they tried to kill her. 

She would have loved to be able to come across other creatures in the woods and not have them hate her just for what she was, but that just didn’t happen.

Arleena sighed, very quickly realizing that Brinia wasn’t going to let the creature walk free. She was waiting for Brinia to stand up and let the cockatrice go, hopefully leaving the creature alone and going away so that the wraith could hunt the creature down again and bring her kill back home.

But the forest’s protector had thought of that, and she didn’t want the poor beast getting in more trouble, and the cockatrice was more than happy to go along with her. 

Arleena was disappointed, but she certainly wasn’t surprised. It was a long shot to think that the dryad would let the beast run free, but she had to stick around and see, now all she could do was wait for the dryad to leave so that she could hopefully also escape unscathed. 

“Is someone there?” Brinia couldn’t shake the feeling that not only was she being watched, but that whoever it was watching her wished her harm, or at the very least, wished her forest harm, and that wasn’t a feeling that she could just shake off. 

Arleena also didn’t have a very good feeling about this, now she was less annoyed that her prey was getting away from her than she was scared for her own life, there was no way in the nine hells that she could take the dryad out on her own, not from in the trees at least. The forest was Brinia’s domain, not Arleena’s. 

Brinia gripped the Hollow’s Heart in one hand, gently petting the scared cockatrice with her other hand to keep it calm as she closed her eyes, holding the staff towards the trees and letting the voices of the forest guide her. 

Brinia might not have been the most powerful archfey, but she was still an archfey, and she was all that stood between the Eternal Hollow and its destruction. She had a powerful connection with the forest that went beyond words, and her magical staff was the center of that connection. 

It was a part of her, and without it she was incomplete, without it she couldn’t possibly be the guardian of the forest, not because she’s weak without her weapon, but because she wasn’t whole without the Hollow’s Heart. 

Brinia Alistora  **was** the heart of the forest, she was the heart of the Eternal Hollow, and the Hollow’s Heart was a part of her. 

Just because she couldn’t see something didn’t mean it wasn’t there, not only did the invisib;e stalker roam these parts of the woods, the elusive songbirds did as well. She had often been required to close her eyes and rely on the forest’s guidance when dealing with the slithery snake lady before her disappearance just over a year ago, and she knew the hollow’s guidance wouldn’t let her down now, not if something threatening the safety of the forest lurked just out of sight. 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to remain calm and silent as she raised the staff, pointing it at the treetops above. The wind was blowing, but that wasn’t enough to disturb the dryad, especially when the wind began to blow around her, spiraling around in a circle at her feet.

She kept herself steady, letting the slight movements of the staff in her hands guide her aim, feeling the Hollow’s Heart guide her for a few moments before it stopped, pointing her up at the trees above. 

Arleena swallowed nervously, baffled by the dryad’s movements until the tip of Alistora’s staff was pointed straight at her. She didn’t know how the forest fey could pinpoint her location, but she knew that it couldn’t possibly be good. 

The wind swirled around Brinia’s feet, picking up speed along with the dirt and leaves quickly being caught in the updraft, accompanied by an otherworldly white glow as the wind around her began to shine.

The stream of air swirling around her began to bathe her in a glistening white aura, and when she eventually opened her eyes, they glowed with the same brilliant white light. 

The wraith was caught off guard seeing the radiance of the angelic warrior up close, and by the time Arleena thought to move, it was already too late. 

Those majestic swirls of white light took aim at the treetops, blowing a searing gust of wind straight in Arleena’s direction, the whirlwind bathing the trees in a stunning flash of holy light and magical radiance. 

Normally this would have been fine, for anyone else this would have been fine, but not for Arleena. The radiant magic of the guardian’s scepter was designed to defend good and destroy evil, and right here and now, that meant destroying Arleena.

The elven girl could feel the holy light penetrating her unholy body, burning her from the inside, completely illuminating her with the same glowing aura that had initially bathed the dryad. 

But Arleena wasn’t a dryad, she was a wraith, she was undead, and because she lived in an unholy husk, the radiant magic of the dryad’s faerie flash was tearing her apart. 

She dropped from the trees, desperate to escape the holy light that penetrated the barrier of trees into the skyline, unable to take the searing pain of radiance. But by the time she was back on her feet, landing steadily on the forest floor, she could sense that the holy light was still enveloping and following her, slowly destroying her as she hacked and coughed in pain, already bleeding on the inside. 

The dryad stared at her, readying some sort of attack, and that was all Arleena needed to know to realize that this wasn’t going to go well for her at all. 

She snarled, reaching towards her hip and slowly beginning to unsheathe her sword. She winced, gasping in pain as her skin made contact with the blade’s handle. The ten spokes of Montemaster’s handle were awash with crackling white light, lashing out at the wraith as she tried to touch the beloved blade her master had gifted her. 

It hurt her, not just physically, but mentally, to be struck with pain just for reaching out towards the very weapon that was meant to keep her safe, the glowing elven blade that she clung to for support. 

Montemaster was as much a part of Arleena as the Hollow’s Heart was a part of Brinia, and feeling her skin being burned off by the searing light encircling the sword’s handle was enough to bring the wraith to tears, not just from the pain, but from the heartache of slowly killing herself just trying to wield it. 

But she still did it, she gritted her teeth, growled out in pain, and pulled the blade from its sheath. 

And what a blade it was. 

It shined with a faint but gorgeous blue light, the ominous glow almost rivalling the holy radiance that bathed the ten spokes of it’s star shaped hilt, with five small spokes and five large spokes alternating between each other, and the elven glyphs carved into the blade glowed an even fiercer light of its own. 

Brinia watched the woman pull the sword from her hip, and instantly she was able to recognize that she was dueling with no mere zombie. Whatever this thing was, it was strong and it was dangerous. Just letting her steady herself for an attack would be a disastrous idea, so she lunged toward it, brandishing her own weapon in an attempt to strike her foe.

The two magical weapons clashed, causing magical green sparks of energy to crackle and erupt between them, creating a shockwave that shook the forest floor, sending the two women crashing away from each other.

This was when Arleena should have turned tail and ran, but she knew she couldn’t. She had to stand up for herself and face this foe, for fear of being seen as weak, for fear of failing her master again. She couldn’t let her down, not again. That was something that was simply off the table. 

Arleena tried to ready herself to make an attack, but she wasn’t quick enough. The wraith wasn’t slow by any means, but the dryad was much faster than the zombie she was facing could even hope to be.

Arleena gasped with pain as she felt the dryad’s staff being smashed into her right side, knocking a lung full of air and blood out through her throat, leaving the wraith open for another attack, which Brinia capitalized on. 

She spun the staff in her hand, pulling it out from under the wraith’s arm and sending it crashing back down on top of her shoulder. Arleena could feel the bones in her shoulder shattering as it was knocked out of place, sending her to the ground. 

If wielding the blade while her hands were being incinerated by magical radiance wasn’t hard enough, trying to slash at the dryad with a dislocated shoulder was like trying to spit on the moon, not only did she not land a single sword strike on the dryad as she stumbled after her, she also looked stupid for trying.

Mindlessly lunging after Brinia while she was on the backfoot wasn’t doing much good for the poor girl, and if anything it just made her seem like she was more of a zombie, but that wasn’t really that could be avoided. Nobody looked at her and saw a poor helpless woman wronged by an early death, they only saw a snarling monster who wanted to rip their hearts from their chests. But really it was Arleena’s heart that was shattered. 

**Bam.**

Alistora jabbed the zombified woman square in the chest with the tip of her staff, it didn’t knock her off of her balance, but it did send her skidding backwards across the forest floor.

Arleena growled under her breath once more, growling under her breath in both anger and fear as she raised her arm, getting ready to make an attack from the distance. She faltered, struggling to hold her arm up unassisted. Arleena was right-handed, so it was near impossible for her to wield her blade in the other hand, but she did use her other hand to prop her sword arm up, reeling her right hand towards her left side as she wound up for an attack.

The blade of her beloved sword glowed blue with its eerie magical light, getting ready to give the dryad a taste of its own magical sword swipes from outside of Alistora’s striking distance. Arleena knew that if she slashed across the horizon with her own force, she was likely to tear her already decaying and now dislocated arm clear off, so she came up with a better idea. 

The zombie woman, once an elegant and regal elf girl, propped herself up on one foot, and performed a dazzling pirouette.

The magical destructive energy stored inside of the blade unleashed itself, sending a brutal blast of energy slicing towards the dryad as the blade slashed through the air. 

There was a loud crashing sound as a whole section of the forest behind the dryad seemed to fall to pieces, with trees but cut clean in half across the horizon. 

But unfortunately for the wraith, who could only pull a stunt like that off once a night at best, the one flower in front of her that hadn’t been trimmed from its stem was Brinia Alistora, and the dryad didn’t seem too happy that Arleena was not only trying to kill innocent wildlife, but was also beginning to decimate her forest. 

And neither did the cockatrice, which Arleena realized far too late was no longer behind the dryad, but behind her. 

The wraith had prepared herself to dodge or parry an attack from the front, so when she heard a loud squeal from behind her telegraphing the beast’s decision to kick her to the hard forest floor below, it was already too late to stop it. 

**_Slam!!_ **

She felt the full force of the large beast slam into her from behind, knocking her forward and off of her feet, face first onto the soil beneath her. She braced herself against the ground, one arm completely useless in trying to pick herself back up onto her feet, and before she could even get back up off of the ground, it became clear that she wasn’t going to be standing up anytime soon.

Arleena screamed out in pain as the beast behind her stomped on her left leg, beginning to try and attack her when she was down, and although the wraith didn’t want to, she had no choice but to push herself back up onto her knees with both hands, and try and swing behind her with her sword in an attempt to get the cockatrice to back off, hopefully not severing her arm in the process. 

Arleena snarled angrily, whining through her teeth as she tried to catch her breath, only for her to whimper in fear, her eyes going wide eyed as she saw the woman in front of her. 

**_Smack._ **

The dryad smacked the wraith across the left side of her face with the full force of her magically charged staff swing, crushing the girl’s skull in. 

Arleena didn’t know what to do besides try to defend herself, but as soon as she tried to pick her arm up off the ground, Brinia was plunging the bottom of her staff into the girl’s wrist, forcing in to crash back down to the forest floor, knocking the sword from her fingers for the first time, and completely pinning her hand down. 

She whimpered desperately, lunging for the sword with her free arm, but before she could get a hold of it, Brinia slipped her foot beneath the still radiant glow of the sword and kicked it straight into the air, catching it in her other hand. 

Arleena’s little elven heart broke as she watched the dryad wield her beloved Montemaster against her, quickly swinging it towards her neck in an attempt to slice her head clean off. 

“ **Please!!!!** ” Arleena closed her eyes and pleaded, unable to face the threat of death that had been staring her in the face since she came back from the grave. She had died once before, and she never wanted to relive that experience again.

The blade stopped mere inches from the girl’s neck as the dryad let out a surprised gasp, her eyes going wide with shock and horror as she had to stop herself from taking the girl’s life. 

“ **Please please please don’t kill me, I’m so sorry!!!** ” The horrified Arleena continued to plead, unable to face the horrors that would face her in the afterlife once more.  **I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back!!!** ”

The dryad stood over her, suddenly horrified by what she was doing, pulling both the sword and staff away from the cowering wraith on her knees, pleading for mercy.

Arleena let out a pain gasp of relief as soon as the dryad was no longer pointing the blade at her neck, grasping at her wrist and buckling under the weight of fear as she put her forehead to the forest floor, sobbing in both pain and terror as she began to completely lose it. 

The dryad looked up at the cockatrice behind the girl, holding her hand up to make sure that the animal knew to stop, before kneeling in front of Arleena, unsure of what to do to help her. “I’m so sorry…”

Arleena knew she had already lost, but that didn’t stop her from trying to swipe at Brinia with her unbroken arm, desperate to get as far away from the archfey as possible. “Don't touch me!!!!” 

Brinia took a few steps backwards, getting back up onto her feet, her heart welling up with guilt. She should have known better than to just attack her, but she had never met a sentient zombie before, this was completely unheard of to her.

“Hey, Arleena! Are you still out here?” 

But before the dryad could really do anything about it, there were suddenly voices in the distance, people were approaching. She hadn’t noticed it before now, but all of a sudden, someone was here. 

“Help take care of her.” The dryad turned to the worried cockatrice, pointing down at the wraith. Brinia didn’t really know what to do all of a sudden, but she needed to get out of here before she attracted more trouble to the village, and she had a way with animals.

The beast might not have liked the wraith very much initially, but the dryad had the innate ability to communicate with other forest creatures, and the large dragon chicken was willing, if not eager, to help out where it could. 

“That lightshow was something new, I’ve gotta give you that-” The pseudo-giant woman gasped with horror as she saw the scene in front of her, watching what looked like the forest’s guardian activating her tree striding abilities and melding into a tree, teleporting somewhere else across the forest. While Arleena, her sister, was heaving vomit and blood onto the forest floor next to a confused cockatrice. 

“No no no no no no no no no… Arleena!!!” Izona rushed to her sister’s aide, dropping to her knees at the wraith’s side, trying to make sure that she was okay.

“…Izona?” Arleena looked up at her with a confused look in her eyes, reeling with pain, not having realized that the dryad had left. 

“Holy shit, Arleena.” Izona helped her sister sit up, growling angrily at the sight of her wounds. 

“I’m so sorry…” The tears coming from Arleena’s eyes were almost tears of joy at seeing one of her sisters, leaning into Izona’s chest, unable to keep herself sitting up.

“We’re going home.” Izona silenced her, looking around to make sure that everything was safe. “We’re going to get you home, okay?”

Arleena simply nodded her head, unable to force any more words out of her mouth as Izona picked her up in her arms, leaning her sister into her chest to support her. 

Izona cursed under her breath, desperate to get Arleena to safety. She was scared, but more than that, she was angry. Angry that there was nothing she could really do to help the girl besides getting her back to her master. She had tried to work alongside the village before, but she had been turned away on the basis of being a slave.

And if people weren’t going to let Izona into their village, she feared for what would happen to her little sister. 

“Can you help me get her home?” Izona may not have been a dryad, but she also had the inherent ability to communicate with other animals, which was quite possibly the reason her ex-husband married her in the first place.

Nevertheless, it had turned out to be handy, it had brought her to her master, and it was going to get her and her little sister home quickly, seeing the cockatrice get down to the ground in order for the girls to climb onto its back. 

“It’s going to be okay, Arleena.” Izona held her dying sister close to her chest as the beast began taking them home. “It’s going to be okay…”

↞✶↠

Eia woke up before any of her brides, sitting herself up in bed and stretching out her limbs

The dryad was no longer in the wendigo’s arms when she woke up, having wrestled herself free of her master sometime in the late morning. But the dryad at the very least hadn’t gotten out of bed without permission, which was Brinia’s first win of the day.

Even as Eia herself got out of bed for the day, there was still something about that poor precious little dryad that was so irresistible to the wendigo. All of her brides were so pretty when they were sleeping. 

It was ironic, each of the brides in the chamber with her had some connection to one of the numerous quartermaster’s that looked over the village. Even Brinia had an extremely close connection with Thorn’s former Lady Protector turned Madame Secretary, Zawdra Nightingale, having engaged in some manner of platonic relationship raising a daughter together.

But Brinia wasn’t the only one. 

Eia admired her beautiful little gem from a distance. Regardless of whether she was in the water or on land, little Marima’s bright blue skin, fluffy head of purple hair, and her radiant chromatic scales always shimmered.

Eia already knew the story. 

Yerb Talltale was an older dwarf man, and had at one point been little more than a groundskeeper, it just so happened that he was the very groundskeeper who found Marima and took her into the well at the village’s center when she was still only a little bit bigger than a minnow.

Eia’s precious little princess had told her that much, he had been like a father figure to her at one point, though the mermaid princess of the flowing meadows always did think of him more as her happy go lucky grandfather, who also happened to be a silly old dwarf man. 

It wasn’t until after Marima had been taken away that he had become invested enough in the wellbeing of Thorn’s citizens to become one of the village’s leaders, and he had become well respected for doing so. 

She was so peaceful just lying there in Tishula’s arms, even if Eia kind of wished she was curled up in her own arms right now, but the sight of the snake lady was nothing to scoff at either. 

Eia grinned, looking over the medusa woman curled up with Marima on the floor, licking her lips at the sight of Tishula’s perpetually exposed cunt. Her brides continued to tell her that Tishula’s quim tasted awful, but the wendigo didn’t mind much, especially after going through so much work to beat the medusa into submission in the first place. A bitter treat was still a treat, even if she needed to have very particular tastes to enjoy it. 

In contrast to that of Yerb Talltale, the story of Thorn’s resident slime hag, Rahllita Zoowellsck, was not as happy of a story. Though Tishula was now Eia’s slave, she and the wendigo once had a fierce rivalry, the both of them holding their own territories in the fog wastes, as well as their own slaves. 

Rahllita might be a quartermaster now, but she used to be one such slave, belonging to the heinous snake lady lurking out in the fog wastes. The slime hag was the longest lasting of Tishula’s slaves too, seemingly the medusa’s favorite by far. Eia remembered Rahllita making numerous trips to the front door of her den to deliver messages from Madame Iznittet, who was now lying asleep in the wendigo’s chamber.

Even Arleena had this beauty about her, despite her undead nature. She may be a troubled woman, but she was just as beautiful as her sisters in her sleep. 

At least until she woke up in a cold sweat, nearly hyperventilating after one of her near countless night terrors. The wraith gasped, sitting up in bed and clutching onto the front of her blouse, pressing her curled up fist into her chest. 

“Deep breaths, honey~” Eia sat down on the bed next to her, no longer worried about disturbing the sleep of her other brides as she went to console the poor girl. Arleena’s sudden shriek of terror had done the difficult task of waking the rest of her sister’s up for her anyways. “Your master has you, Arleena.”

Brinia sat up in bed next to them, suddenly worried that something had happened. She looked over at the pair of women next to her, smiling slightly as her fears were eased, seeing Eia pull Arleena into her chest much like she had done for the dryad in the dead of night. 

Arleena was now taking deep breaths, gently leaning into the wendigo’s breasts, letting herself be held and kept safe. 

Brinia saw the way that the wraith clung to the wendigo as a comfort item, her mind trailing off to the side of the bed as she leaned over the side and picked up the staff, pulling it into her chest for comfort like Eia was doing to comfort her sister. 

But the wraith didn’t seem to appreciate it, her eyes going wide with terror as she saw the Hollow’s Heart in Brinia’s hand, beginning to break down completely as she was overcome with her fear. 

Alistora was overcome with emotion as well, not with fear, but with guilt. She quickly realized that she had made a bad mistake by picking the staff up while Arleena was having an episode. 

_ Great going, Alistora… Another fuck up…  _

**_You should leave._ **

Brinia was caught off guard hearing the voice she had spoken to last night in her head again, but not as off guard as hearing the wendigo say the same thing to her. 

“You should leave.” Eia snapped her fingers, turning and directing the rest of her brides to leave the chamber. “You two. Take Brinia outside and get her dressed to go hunting.”

Eia didn’t even stop to listen for any answers before turning back and resuming her efforts of consoling her bride, sighing to herself as she watched all three of them leave the chamber and head out for the day. 

_ Oh Arleena… I’m so sorry…  _

This is part of the morning where she would often feel guilty about Arleena’s night terrors. But though she still felt guilty, she didn’t feel guilty for quite the same reasons. 

Usually Arleena had night terrors about the night she had been killed. When the wendigo had permanently taken her from her family by tearing her chest open. But more recently, Arleena had been having nightmares about something completely different.

“Was it the dryad again?”

Arleena flinched at just the mention of her, nodding her head and pulling herself into the wendigo’s chest as she whimpered. Curling her fist into Eia’s cloak. “I-”

“Enough, Arleena.” Eia continued to just hold her there, wanting her to know that her owner was there for you. “Master has you now, and there’s no way I’m letting her hurt you again.”

Arleena curled her hands into the wendigo’s fur, choking on her anger. “Can I hurt her?”

“You can have your revenge on her.” Eia smiled, stroking the wraith’s hair. “Just like your sisters.”

“But can I…” Arleena choked on her own words, unable to pull them out of her throat. “Can I hurt her like she hurt me?”

Eia thought it over, hating the look of Arleena in this kind of pain. “You can do anything you want to her.” 

Arleena smiled nervously. “Anything at all?”

“Anything at all… that’s what all of this is for, my love.” Eia smiled, letting the wraith climb out of her lap and onto the bed as she made her way to one of the drawers, fishing out a blade to equip her bride with for today, handing it off to her little doll. “This is all for you.”

It wasn’t her beloved Montemaster, but Arleena recognized the blade, of course she did. It was the very blade that the elf girl wielded against her future master when she first laid eyes on the wendigo.

If you had told her back then that she would eventually be waking up in the monster’s bed and curling up into her arms, she probably would have sliced your head off on the spot. She was a more confident and brave woman back then, but even though she was often nervous and insecure now, she’d never stopped being brave and confident with the blade. 

She took after the person she had been raised by, her parent and guardian, Eldrian Darkstyle, whom this blade once belonged to. Darkstyle, along with Talltale and Zoowellsck, was one of Thorn’s higher ups, a quartermaster. 

They were called quartermasters because there were four of them, and even though one of them had completely resigned once they had found out about Zawdra’s plan to cooperate with the monstrous wendigo, there were still four of them.

Cerilla’s appointment to replace the man who previously held that seat was sure to be controversial, maybe even more so than the wendigo herself. But even though he wasn’t one of the quartermasters anymore, Eia was certain that this Kouzonn man was going to cause her a lot of trouble. 

She knew all about the other quartermasters, seeing as how they each had a connection to one of her brides, but she didn’t know much about him at all. Eia couldn’t tell you his last name, let alone any potential connection to yet another one of her brides like the rest of the quartermasters, or even the lady protector that the group previously served under. 

Despite all the hubbub between her and the gargoyle, Eia Madaerie was not  **yet** the lady protector of Thorn. She would likely have to be voted in by some sort of council or something, which was why she had sent one of her brides to find some much needed information about the now former quartermaster.

In fact, Kouzonn was already a former quartermaster, having resigned before Nightingale could even enact her final order of business before her own resignation. Luckily, said resignation on the part of the human man had made the gargoyle’s last act, appointing the hobgoblin den mother to the position of quartermaster, that much easier. 

And then, per her agreement with the wendigo, to sate Eia’s desires to rule over an unsuspecting population as their master, Zawdra Nightingale resigned, leaving her position open for the wendigo.

Zawdra Nightingale was no longer in charge, the village of Thorn was now without its lady protector, but soon enough, Eia Madaerie would have that title.

↞✶↠

“And here’sss your dressss~!!” Tishula held the completely clean and dried garment out for Brinia to take, standing there and collecting her pajamas as the dryad put the dress back on. “Now if you’ll excussse me, I have other mattersss to attend to.”

Brinia finished getting herself dressed. She wished that someone could equip her with some actual armor, but it seemed like she would have to do. Besides, the dryad was more concerned about getting herself in trouble today, which was almost certain to happen if she was going to be around Arleena for an extended period of time. “Is… Arleena okay?”

“Isss she okay overall? Or ssspecifically right now?” Tishula stuck her forked tongue out of her mouth, tasting the air around her to try and detect scents. “Becaussse either way, not really.”

“How come?” Brinia knew the answer, of course she knew the answer, but she needed to hear it out loud. “Is it about me?”

“I can’t be sure, but I can make an educated guessss, and dessspite what she might sssay, I’d bet the anssswer is yesss.” Tishula clearly thought that it was a stupid question. “I ssstill don’t like you either, but I can’t blame her for… trying to play nice, I sssuppossse.”

Brinia clung to the staff on her hip as she slung Eia’s saddle bag over her shoulders. “I’m sorry about your eyes.”

“Would you pleassse cut that out?” Tishula hissed at her. “No amount of apologizing isss going to get me to forgive you… essspecially for brutalizing my poor sssweet Arleena.”

_ Right. She’s upset about that too. Of course she is.  _ Brinia sighed, letting the topic go for now. She almost expected that weird voice in her head to pop back up and respond, but it didn’t.

The archfey still couldn’t be sure what that voice was or where it came from. She did have a hunch, but it was still just a hunch. But if her gut feeling was correct, it wouldn’t make much sense for the voice to want to stop her from killing the wendigo, it was all still a jumbled confusing mess.  _ Why would you want to keep her alive? _

“Master!!” The dryad’s thoughts were cut off by the sound of Eia’s mermaid bride shouting for her master. “Izzy won’t let me see Demma!!”

“My glyph. My doors. You’re not going into the stables, and you’re not supposed to be out here either.” Izona was holding Marima at bay, grasping either of the mermaid’s wrists in her hands as the girl flailed her tail on the ground. “You can’t swim freely outside of the den anyways.”

“Yeah but I can swim about in the stables!!” She continued to protest, writhing in Izona’s hands. “Just bring her out here so I can see her, please?”

“She’s already hitched up for the trip, she can’t talk right now anyways.” Izona flinched, trying to avoid a headbutt from Marima as the large fish woman splashed about on the ground. “Just wait for her to get back.”

“But she borrowed something that I need back, and it  **really** can’t wait.” Marima pleaded, her blue cheeks flushed in distress. “I mean it.”

“Well whatever it is, she didn’t tell me where it is, so you’ll just have to go find it.” Izona was growing frustrated, the pseudo-giant tried to be patient, but she inherited a little bit of an anger problem. “ **Inside.** ”

The two girls continued to squabble as Eia exited the den, Arleena in tow, Their master was clearly quite tired, walking past the two of them without so much as looking at them or saying anything. The only signal given was one that Eia did with her fingers, flicking at the door to the den by using the fingers correlating to Izona and Marima, indicating for the pseudo-giant to take her sister back inside. 

Brinia tried to avoid eye contact with the wendigo as she approached, but she ended up accidentally making eye contact with the wraith instead, which was arguably even worse. 

Her heart twisted in her chest, full to the brim with guilt for what she had done. It was a mistake, what she did that night, and in retrospect it was completely and totally her fault. 

At the time it seemed like the right thing to do, to help save an innocent creature from being hunted down by an undead husk out to eat it. But she thought back on it now, and it made her shudder. 

Arleena wasn’t just a zombie, she was a wraith, and although the two were similar on the surface, they were vastly different when it came to what they were and where they came from. 

Zombies were just that, zombies. They were mindless monsters that needed to eat to survive. They had no thoughts or soul, or even so much as a discernible personality. All they had was the body that they shambled around in, and on rare occasions the skills that the creature had in life, but in death they were not the same person. They weren’t even a person at all, they were monsters. 

But wraiths were a whole other can of worms, unfortunately. They were the same on the surface, their bodies were quite literally dead, but they weren’t devoid of thoughts and feelings, they had a soul. A wraith was the result of a tragic soul who met an undue death, their soul ripped from this world and sent on to the next before they were ready. 

Normally when someone died, their soul went to the next plane, to reunite with the goddess that created them in the afterlife, regardless of the specifics of one’s death. But sometimes those poor souls refused to stay dead, when a creature was so unjustly wronged in life by the one that killed them, sometimes that soul came right back to its now decaying body to seek revenge. 

The soul of a wraith came back to its body for the express purpose of killing whoever it was in life that wronged them, such is the case with Arleena. Whatever it was that killed her was what brought her back into this world to seek revenge, whoever that was… but strangely enough, if Brinia had to guess, the culprit was likely the wendigo.

This was all secondary to the fact that Arleena wasn’t a mindless monster, she was a person, with thoughts, feelings, and a soul. Taking her from this life once again would be doing her a disservice, robbing her of being able to take her revenge on the one who wronged her. 

And Brinia felt horrible for almost killing her, and inflicting the trauma that she clearly had upon her. No one deserved to die twice, especially not Arleena. 

“How did you sleep?” Brinia tried to smile, feeling too awkward to take her eyes off of Arleena after making eye contact, hearing the door into the den shut behind Izona and Marima as they returned inside. 

“Better than you, apparently.” Arleena scoffed, giving her an annoyed grin, leaning on her sense of dark humor once again as she clung to Eia, squeezing her master’s hand. 

_ What is that supposed to mean?  _ Dark humor aside, Alistora honestly didn’t sleep very well, and the idea that Arleena was aware of that concerned her. 

“Izona and Marima just got inside, Zaikana’s in the chamber with Val, Noriza’s in the recovery chamber, Demmara’s in the stable, Brinia and Arleena are right here, and Tishula’s on guard.” Eia let go of Arleena’s hand, mumbling to herself as she put each of her fingers down one by one, counting all of her brides and making sure they were in the right place. 

“What about Cerilla?” Brinia Alistora was too sharp not to notice the wendigo stealthily putting one finger down without saying the bride's name, which continued to concern her. 

“Your den mother is out doing work in the village for me right now.” Eia turned to face her, pointing at the door to the stables for Arleena to go retrieve the mounts. 

“The village?!” Brinia’s heart thumped just a little bit harder, there was no way that what Cerilla was doing was any good “What’s she doing in the-”

**_Rhakkiza Nairi will be next, and you’ll have her life to answer for._ **

Brinia stopped in her tracks. She wasn’t at all sure whether the voice saying the thoughts in her head was her own, or if it was Eia’s voice echoing the words that her master said to warn her. 

_ Don’t question her. don’t disrespect her, just comply.  _

These words were her own, only she could convince herself to do such a thing as obey the wendigo’s desires, that voice was her own, and no one else. 

_ My master. Eia is my master. _

Brinia swallowed nervously. Disobeying the wendigo came with consequences, and those consequences had already gotten people hurt, and she knew that now. Before last night she only had a vague sense of what was at stake, but now she had names. 

She had the names of those who had already gotten hurt, and she had the name of who would die if she continued to make mistakes. She could picture the girl’s face in her head, the face of someone who was going to die if she didn’t succeed, she couldn’t afford to make another mistake. 

“I… Yes, Master.” Brinia amended herself, knowing that finishing her words would mean disaster for an innocent girl, she could make a guess about what Cerilla was doing in the village, even if that guess was wrong, the idea of the hobgoblin hunting down some specific villager was enough motivation she needed to stay in line. “That’s not my place to ask, is it, Ma’am?”

“No it is not, I’m glad you’re able to recognize that.” Eia smirked, staring down at Brinia with that crushing glare of hers, the single finger which bared the charm matching Brinia’s collar resting on the wendigo’s lower lip. “Careful now, my trigger finger is getting itchy.”

“Hopefully I can scratch that itch for you.” Brinia lowered her head, standing as still as she could in an attempt to show deference. “That way you won’t have to…”

Eia simply smiled, gesturing for the dryad to approach her with just the one finger as the rest of the group arrived. 

The look in the sphinx’s eyes was the look of someone who was dead inside, but the one in Brinia’s eyes was a look of disgust, her stomach churning at the sight of what had been done to the poor girl. 

Demmara’s charm granted her the ability to morph into a variety of different forms while inside of the den, but out here in the wild she was forced back into her default form. Of course she hadn’t so much been  **reduced** to this form as she had simply been returned to this form, because this was as regal and powerful looking as Brinia had seen any of Eia’s brides thus far, and that was saying something. 

She was huge, her size now clearly surpassing Eia’s as she slowly walked forwards on all fours. Eia stood over her of course, but only because she was standing upright, if Demma was to stand up on her hind legs she would easily reach nine feet, but in her current position that was relegated to the length of her body.

Her master wasn’t concerned about that because she could be sure that the sphinx wouldn’t be getting off her front paws anytime soon. It was shocking to think that even in her most pristine state, Demma would be serving as Eia’s mount. 

She had radiant gold skin and gorgeously straight black hair. This was as regal as any of Eia’s brides had looked so far, and that was especially pathetic considering that Demma was hitched up just like a horse. 

There was a saddle mounted on her back, bundles of supplies tied to either side for her to carry, and reins forced into her mouth to keep her in place. 

Brinia was simultaneously enraged and flustered at the sight of it, seeing such a powerful creature as a sphinx being reduced to someone’s steed was utterly humiliating for the woman, yet she didn’t seem to have the same anger as Brinia did

She didn’t seem happy that she was being humiliated like this, not for one second could you see light in those eyes, but she didn’t have a furious light or an angry spark in her eyes. She was dead inside, having resigned herself to this fate, allowing herself to be degraded and treated like a mere animal. 

She couldn’t say anything, she couldn’t vocalize any of her thoughts to the other woman thanks to the bit gag forced into her mouth, just like one would force a horse to endure, and still the worst of it was yet to come. 

“Alright Alistora, you’re smaller, so you’ll sit in the front.” Brinia felt Eia’s paw on her lower back, pushing her towards the sphinx. “I trust you brought everything you were meant to.” 

“I’m pretty certain.” Brinia had the staff affixed to her hip and the saddle bag slung over her shoulder, if she was meant to bring anything else, it wasn’t something she had been made aware of. 

“Hand me the staff.” Eia followed Brinia to the sphinx’s side, holding her hand out for the magical weapon.

Brinia nodded and handed it off to her, grinding her teeth at the sight of what was happening to it. The wood of the Hollow’s Heart seemed to be darkening, it wasn’t burning, it was like it was transforming into some other kind of wood, giving it a more sinister appearance. It seemed bigger as well, not just in length but in thickness as well, and the ends of it appeared just a little bit more wicked now than it had been just a few days prior. There were a lot less smooth edges and a lot more jagged splinters, and it made holding the thing that much less comfortable. 

_ Are you becoming more like Eia? Is that what’s happening to you? _

Brinia presented the staff to her in both hands, holding it out for her horizontally. Eia took it in one hand, but before the dryad could pull either of her own hands away, the wendigo had grabbed both of her wrists with her other hands. 

The dryad sighed, able to feel the heat of anger in her scratchy throat, but she remained silent, letting herself be vulnerable to whatever it was that Eia wanted to do to her.

The wendigo held the tip of the staff to the dryad’s wrists and began to glow, and after just a moment, magical vines began to sprout from out of Alistora’s skin, wrapping themselves around her wrists and binding them together, beginning to cut off blood flow to her hands. 

She winced in pain, struggling against the bonds as soon as the wendigo wasn’t looking, letting go of the dryad’s now restrained arms. 

“Why not just use the chains, Master?” Arleena rode up beside them, surprising the dryad with a glimpse at what the wraith would be using as a steed. 

_ The cockatrice?  _ She blinked to make sure she wasn’t seeing it wrong, but sure enough that was the same beast that Arleena had been hunting on her last trip. 

“You should know better than to question me before I’m done, Arleena.” Eia turned to her and held out her right hand. The skull and crossbones affixed to the metal band on her ring finger began to glow with white light, as did the corresponding charm on the wraith’s collar.

Whatever magic Eia was using now was her own, using the magic of her rings to manipulate her bride, and not from the Hollow’s Heart, which was slowly becoming a part of Eia as much as it was a part of Brinia. A moment later the fruits of that magic would finally bloom, as a magical strand of glowing silver magic extended itself from the ring on Eia’s finger and lashed out at the charm on Arleena’s collar, latching onto her and connecting the elven warrior to her master’s leash. 

Eia instantly yanked on the magical leash, watching as Arleena was pulled right off of the back of her mount and sent falling back onto the ground. 

“If you wanted me to use Zophiel’s Chains on you, then you should have asked.” Eia scolded her, yanking her back to her feet with the magical leash. “Now get back up.”

“Yes, Master…” Arleena groaned, pulling herself back up and climbing onto her cockatrice once again. Curiously, the beast seemed to coo at its rider, wanting to make sure that she was alright, which she assured it she was by gently petting the back of its head. 

_ Zophiels’s Chains?  _ Brinia pondered to herself, apparently that little technique had a name, but it was curious that it was called that, seeing as how it seemed to be a power innate to the wendigo herself.  _ Why Zophiel? _

The dryad didn’t have enough time to come up with an answer for herself, nor did she get a response from her mental companion before Eia interrupted her. “Admiring the chains?”

“What do you mean?” Brinia blushed as she was teased. She was admiring the chains, but only because they were dazzling and gorgeous, not because she wanted to find herself receiving the same sort of treatment. Yet that didn’t seem to stop Eia from asserting herself and holding that over her. 

“If you would like your own leash, then ask.” Eia held her other hand out, and after a few seconds there was a similar chain extending from her pinky and around Demma’s side, affixing itself to the sphinx’s collar as well. 

“I… Yes, I would…” Brinia sighed, her throat boiling inside of her as the heat of her anger raged. She didn’t want this, not in the slightest, but the other girls both had one now. Being the only one off of a leash would help keep the dryad’s pride intact, but that didn’t do much for her people in the long run. 

She had to make it through this day, and if that meant doing it on a leash, she would do it on a leash… even if that meant asking Eia to put her on a leash. 

Brinia closed her eyes and swallowed her pride. “Will you please put me on a leash, Ma’am?”

_ That’s a little bit better.  _ Eia continued to give her the same cold glare, her lips curled into a frown.  _ But that’s still not good enough. _

“These chains aren’t just to keep my brides in line, they’re to keep them at my side, to keep them safe. Why should I treat you like my other brides?” 

“Because I’m one of your brides too, Ma’am.” Brinia didn’t understand, did Eia not want this?

“You’re one of my slaves, yes, but I would hardly call you one of my brides.”

Her voice was weak and shaky. “Ma’am, I-”

“Do you deserve to be called one of my brides?”

The dryad’s mouth hung open for a few seconds as she struggled to respond, before closing as she shook her head. “No, Ma’am.”

“No, you don’t.” Eia shook her head, taking Alistora by the hand and helping her up onto Demma’s back. 

But Brinia only had a few moments to soak in her despair as Eia climbed onto the saddle behind her, before she saw her extend her fiendish paw in front of her, the ring glowing with a bright white light as a third glowing leash released itself from Eia’s hands, attaching itself to the dryad’s collar. 

_ Zophiel’s Chains~  _ Eia smiled at the chain and the chain alone, delighted to see the dryad on the other end of it. “What do we say?”

“Ma’am… I-” Brinia could feel herself slipping, her anger bubbling back up to her throat as the searing light absorbed the collar clasped around it. “Thank you, Master.” 

“I don’t usually get to be so flashy when I go out, but I thought I’d show off my slaves while I can.”

“What do I do now, Ma’am?” Brinia curled her hands into fists as Demma started to move, trying to keep herself steady on the sphinx’s back.

“What do you think you should do?” Eia pulled on Arleena’s leash, pulling her overeager slave backwards to direct her to the back of the group. 

“I’m not sure…” 

“If you don’t know what to do, don’t do anything.” Eia pulled on Demma’s reins, directing her to pick up the pace, which she did. “And if you don’t know what to say, follow your sister’s lead, and don’t say anything.”

“Yes, Master.” Brinia hung her head in shame, wincing at the pain of her raw exposed cunt rubbing against the roughness of Demma’s saddle. Her master hadn’t allowed her anything to wear beneath her dress, and that left everything she had exposed, but Eia didn’t care. All the wendigo needed her for was to carry the staff, so that was what she was going to do. “I understand.”

All that mattered was Eia, and that meant doing as she was told, without hesitation or complaint. 

Right now, her purpose was whatever her master said it was. 

↞✶↠

“We’ll stop here for now.” Eia pulled on her bride’s reins, slowing her to stop in some arbitrary clearing. 

They had set out at sunrise, but at this point it was well into the evening, with no sign of being done anytime soon. 

They hadn’t been riding the whole time, though much of it had been spent searching for prey, it was unfortunate that parts of the Eternal Hollow had already been picked clean, meaning that they had to stray further and further from home with each trip, extending the length of said trip’s dramatically with each subsequent outing. 

“Are we turning back, Master?” Arleena rode up to her master’s side, concerned that they were giving up already. 

“Not tonight, no.” Eia dismissed the three chains connected to her bride’s collars, watching them disappear as she dismounted from the saddle. “I had expected this to happen, so I brought supplies.”

“Supplies for what, Ma’am?” In contrast to the dryad, who was keeping her mouth shut, Arleena wasn’t afraid to ask questions. 

“I want you both to get to work setting up camp, make sure the mounts get some rest, they can’t keep this up all night.” Eia grabbed two bundles of supplies and tossed one of them to both Arleena and Alistora. “We’re sleeping here tonight.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Arleena nodded. The hunting trips had never lasted overnight, but as they continued to get longer, there had to be a first time for everything. 

The girls dismounted from their respective steeds, agreeing to set up camp while their master left to hunt down some prey, hoping that she would have more luck on her own. 

Brinia’s hands were aching with pain and her delicate little flower was raw and uncomfortable from rubbing against Demma’s saddle, wringing all sorts of juices out of her and leaving her desperate for more stimulation.

Brinia got to work, hoping that the feeling would eventually go away, but by the time she was finished setting the camp up, she had grown even more desperate.

Now normally she’d shrug it aside, she wanted stimulation yes, but she didn’t have feelings towards either of the girls with her, but she couldn’t help but feel like this was a golden opportunity. 

“So…” Brinia turned to Arleena, one of the two girls who still had the ability to activate Brinia’s charm. “Do you want to-”

“No.” Arleena cut her off before she could finish, able to smell the juices dripping from Brinia’s flower. “Definitely not right now, and kind of not at all.”

Brinia nodded silently, not even bothering to respond to that, she supposed it was only fair. Arleena had all the reason to hate her for what she did. “Right. I’m sorry.”

“I would kind of appreciate it if you would just…” Arleena was choking on her words, and Brinia could see that her hand was on her sword as she kept a close eye on her sister’s movements. “Let the dead rest in peace… please.”

Alistora was about to respond before she felt herself being nudged from behind. It was Demma, gently nuzzling her sister’s shoulder to get her attention. 

“Do you… want the reins off?” Brinia turned to her in confusion, not sure what the sphinx wanted from her.

Demma shook her head desperately, knowing exactly what kind of trouble she would be getting in if she allowed her reins to be removed. But without use of her words, all she could do was pass glances back and forth between Arleena and Brinia.

Brinia sighed, beginning to understand what the sphinx was trying to say. “Should I leave her alone then?”

The sphinx woman averted her gaze downwards, nodding her head as she laid down on her belly next to Brinia, sprawling herself out like a cat. 

Arleena clearly needed some sort of comfort, but sometimes it was better to just let someone stew in their own juices for a while. 

Brinia leaned into Demma, smiling at her as she reached over to pet the feline woman on the head, scratching her hair as the sphinx murmured and purred happily. As the dryad continued, suddenly she felt something lodged in the locks of her sister’s mane, and a moment later she heard whatever it was slipping out and clattering onto the ground at her own feet. 

**Clack.**

_ What’s that?  _ Brinia reached down and picked it up, examining whatever it was that clattered at the floor between her feet closely to see what it was.  _ A mirror? _

Demmara mewled as soon as she saw it, pawing at Brinia’s hand to try and get it away from her, causing the dryad to instinctively pull it away from her, as if it was a toy that the cat woman wasn’t supposed to have.

“Hold on a sec!!” Brinia pushed herself away from the sphinx, getting up onto her feet and taking a few steps towards safety before flipping the pocket mirror open. “Isn’t this… Marima’s?”

Demma nodded, trodding after the dryad in the hopes of getting it back from her, whimpering and begging through her gag. 

“I’m not going to steal it, I promise.” Alistora smiled at her, hoping that she wasn’t about to get mauled by a ferocious lion. “I’ll give it back to her I swear… it’s going to fall out of your hair and get lost if you keep it there.”

The sphinx woman paused and blushed, knowing that the dryad was right when she said that. As she was allowed to get a closer look at it without Demma trying to pry it away from her, Brinia was able to confirm to herself that it was the same mirror that she’d seen Marima holding.

But even more interesting, the dryad could sense that it was magical in some capacity, but she was unfortunately unable to identify what that magic was without the power of her staff. 

She stepped back and held it out at arm’s length as she examined her reflection. She didn’t look too awful at all, but she wasn’t able to get a very long look at herself before she saw the reflection of the forest shaking behind her as she was knocked off of her feet and onto the forest floor below. 

**_GRAAAAAAAAAWWRRRRRRHHHH!!!!!!_ **

The forest shook under their feet, knocking the dryad flat onto her ass as the enormous roar erupted through the forest. The moments that followed were filled with birds flocking through the air as they flew away, the sounds of small herds trampling through the forest, and the sound of Arleena’s mount squawking with fear. 

“Hawkney!! Calm down!!” Arleena hopped up to her feet beside the cockatrice, trying to steady it by tugging on its reins. But just as it had done during her fight with the dryad, the cockatrice was more than capable of knocking the wraith flat on her ass, much like the sudden tremors had done to Alistora. “Wait!! Stop!!”

The reins slipped from Arleena’s grasp as the beast made a run for it. She was certainly not as good with animals as Izona or Brinia were, and it appeared that the cockatrice wasn’t as well trained as it appeared to be.

Hawkney dashed off in whichever direction was available to it, the sound that still echoed through the forest too loud for any of them to be able to discern what it was or where it had come from.

“What was that?” Brinia jumped to her feet, curling her hands into fists, her wrists still bound together by vines. 

“I don’t know, but I’m not letting it eat Hawkney.” Arleena snarled, running up to the sphinx and jumping into the saddle with the dazzling speed of an elven warrior, before holding her hands out towards Brinia and helping her back onto the saddle in front of her. “He’s all I have right now, please don’t let him get away.”

Her wrists may have been bound together, but that wasn’t going to stop her from taking the reins, her magical staff clasped to her waist as the three of them kicked into motion on top of Demma’s back, riding off after the scared cockatrice. 

_ What was that sound?  _ Brinia swallowed nervously as they dashed into the woods, following Hawkney’s tracks.  _ Was that… an animal? _

Brinia could see Demma nodded her head to the question as the sphinx woman kept going, remembering that the girl could read her thoughts as they came into her head… as well as something more sinister lurking in the depths of Alistora’s mind. 

**_Shouldn’t you leave this up to your master?_ **

The voice in Brinia’s head piped back up as soon as the thought had occurred to her, and almost instantly she could feel that the sphinx could hear  **that** as well as her own thoughts.

_ Not now, this is an emergency… you’re going to freak her out.  _

The sphinx woman let out a confused and exasperated whimper, she was used to hearing the thoughts of others, but this was completely new to her… and that was more than a little terrifying. 

**_Someone was bound to take notice of me sooner or later~_ **

_ Yes, but that doesn’t mean now had to be the time,  _ **_I_ ** _ don’t even know who or what you are yet.  _

**_Don’t give me that, Alistora… You know EXACTLY what I am-_ **

All of the voices in Brinia’s head were suddenly silenced as Demmara skid to a halt, quickly putting on the brakes and stopping as soon as she hit the mouth of the next clearing. 

“What are you doing?” Arleena scoffed. “Keep going.”

Demma shook her head, almost petrified at something, and it took Brinia a few more moments to realize that it wasn’t the strange voice in her head that the sphinx was afraid of. 

“Arleena…” The dryad looked up at it in fear, her heart just about pounding out of her chest. “I think we should turn back…”

“Not a chance.” Arleena leapt off of her sister’s back, determined to keep going, keeping quiet so as not to possibly disturb the nearby wildlife, continuing forward into the clearing until she finally saw it… and immediately stopped in her tracks. “I… What the hell…”

The three slaves suddenly found themselves in over their heads, cowering in the shadow of something much bigger and much stronger than they could even hope to be combined. 

“I think I know what that sound was…” Brinia was frozen in place just seeing it, slowly beginning to recognize what it was she was looking at. 

She had fought this thing before, back when she was the forest’s guardian… but from the looks of it, the creature had grown significantly larger than it had been back then.

“That’s… is that?” Arleena’s heart was also beating out of her chest, except a lot more literally, the wound in her chest almost bursting open in fear.    
  


It was a terrifyingly large monster, at least forty feet in height, towering over them even as it just sat there, not having noticed the three slaves just yet, snarling under its breath as it slowly awoke from its slumber. 

The three of them stood there, staring up in fear and the giant monster, a golem made from stone, soot, and clay… shattering the trees and the earth around it as it moved. 

It’s eyes glowed with a ferocious red light, illuminating the sky even brighter than the setting sun could, even as the hours of daylight grew shorter as winter approached. 

Arleena more than anyone found herself shaking in her boots as the golem rose to its feet, towering over even the treetops as it stood up, letting them take a good look at it in its entirety. 

The wraith could feel herself trembling with fear as it turned towards them, not ready to fight this thing. 

Arleena was not ready to look this thing in the eyes again… not after what happened last time… 

"Oh no..."


	16. The Swamp Golem

“You want to run away?” Arleena curled her hands into fists, abhorred by the idea of her parent’s seeming decision to flee the village instead of staying to defend it. “What do you mean run away?”

“I’m not going anywhere, Arleena.” The older dark elf responded, currently gearing up to do battle with the intruders currently wreaking havoc about the settlement. “Not until that monster is dead.”

“Then what’s this about running away?” Arleena was relieved to see her guardian recognizing that it was their duty to stay and fight, instead of hoofing it like cowards. The younger elf girl was ready to stay and fight the beasts, but now she was just confused. 

“Like I just said, Arleena.  **I** am not going anywhere.” The elf guardian stood up, putting their arms around their daughter and pulling Arleena into an embrace. “But you two need to get out of here.”

“What do you mean? Why should we go anywhere without you?” Arleena returned the hug, pulling away from her custodian after a few moments. “I’m not going to just… leave you here.”

“I’m not giving you a choice, sweetie…” The older elf had done their best raising their twin daughters after their partner had fallen in battle several years ago, and they weren’t about to let something bad happen to either of them. “Eiranee needs you, and you need her, Arleena.”

“But the village needs me too.” Arleena continued to protest, despite her guardian’s best wishes. “And I need you…”

“Arleena, please.” The other elf insisted, knowing it was their duty to protect their own daughters as much as it was their duty to protect the village. “I need you to do as I say and get out of here. I’m not going to be gone for very long, I’ll come find you once this is over… you’re going to be safe, I promise.”

“I’m not worried about me, I’m worried about you… what if you die just like they did?” Arleena couldn’t help but fear she was going to lose her only remaining parent just like she lost the other one. “I can’t let you go in all by yourself, what happens to us if you die?”

“The same thing that happens to Eiranee if we both march up to that thing and get killed, Arleena… that’s why I need you  **both** to get out of here, before it’s too late.” Like a worried parent, the older elf continued to worry about what would come if something bad happened to them, and the twins were forced to live on without any parents. “If any Darkstyle is to die tonight, I’m going to make sure that it’s me… ”

“But I can help you fight it, let me come with you!!” Arleena picked up a sword, beginning to hastily affix it to her belt before taking one of the mounted shields off of the wall. 

“Sweetheart, no.” Eldrian took the shield from Arleena’s hands before she could equip it, not about to allow their daughter to march in there with them. Arleena was a very talented elf, and she had grown into quite the skilled swordswoman, but she and her were still young, too young for this. “There’s nothing to be accomplished from you trying to fight that thing Arleena… If I can’t take it on my own, there’s nothing more than you can do to change those odds.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Like a child, Arleena was still prone to protest. 

“It means do as I say, Arleena.” Eldrian equipped the once mounted shield themself, preventing their daughter from running out and getting herself and her sister hurt. The older elf put both of their hands on Arleena’s shoulders, holding her at arm's length and looking her straight in the eyes as she was scolded. “Someday, you’re going to be a great hunter, maybe even someday soon… just not tonight.”

Arleena scoffed, stomping her feet and throwing one arm up, gesturing to the havoc going on outside. “But she’s a wendigo!!” 

“And that’s exactly why you can’t come with me.” Eldrian smiled, pulling their daughter into one last hug before they needed to leave. “Do you know how heartbroken I’d be if you were killed, or even worse… enslaved?”

“I’m not going to end up getting enslaved.” Arleena scoffed at the idea of it. “I’m an adult, I can handle myself.”

“That’s enough, Arleena.” Eldrian frowned, still staring the younger dark elf in the eyes. “I’ve already lost one family member, I’m not about to lose another…”

“But… what about us?” Arleena swallowed nervously, thinking back to her other parent. “We don’t want to lose another one either… what happens if you get killed?” 

Eldrian simply smiled, giving their daughter a pat on the shoulder before pulling away. “Trust me… I’m not going to get killed.”

Arleena sighed, smiling at her parent and nodding. “Promise you’ll come back?”

“I promise…” Eldrian smiled lovingly, endlessly proud of both of their daughters. “Now get out of here before you get hurt.”

“Come on, Arleena!!” Eiranee was trying to be patient, but things were getting worse out there, and she was beginning to lose said patience. “We need to go…”

Arleena gave her guardian one last quick smile before turning towards her twin sister, running up to Eiranee and leaving out the back door in a matter of moments.

The two elf girls could hear the roaring of a menacing monster attack upon their home, the village of Blossoms, an attack that was practically unprecedented up to this point in their lives.

It was impossible to figure out what was going on as the two of them made their way to the edge of the village, it seemed like whatever battle there was going on was seeming to die down, but at the same time, the monster’s roars didn’t seem to get any further away. 

Eiranee took the lead, even if she probably shouldn’t have, wanting to get out of here as soon as she could. Arleena’s twin sister was studying the ways of magic to become a mage, but like her sister, she wasn’t quite to where she wanted to be yet. 

Arleena followed behind her, not letting her sister out of her sight. It would appear that regardless of whatever had happened to start this fight, it had garnered the village a little bit of extra attention.

“What is that thing?” Eiranee stopped in her tracks, squeezing the straps of her bag as tight as she could for comfort as she looked up at the massive monster. “Don’t tell me that’s… what I think it is…”

Arleena was just as awestruck as her sister was looking up that towering clay creature, standing at around what was at least twenty feet in height, hurling its massive arms around and swatting at some sort of airborne creature that the sisters couldn’t identify.

But the oversized mud puppet, that was something that Arleena  **could** identify. “The swamp golem…”

Arleena gritted her teeth and anger as she stared up at the abomination, helpless to do anything to take it down. The elf could very vividly remember the day that the swamp golem first appeared. It was two years ago, back when the hobgoblins of Najistaire, led by Cerilla the crucifier, attacked the Eternal Hollow. 

And the swamp golem had been a part of the Najistairean’s ranks. It was a mindless creature, summoned forth and conjured for the express purpose of reducing the forest to rubble, and though the hobgoblin invaders had long since fled, that was exactly what the swamp golem was going to do. 

“Arleena… what do we do?” Eiranee was no less afraid than Arleena was, and though Eiranee was technically the older twin, she often looked to her sister for support and guidance. 

Her sister didn’t want to flee, especially when remembering that it was the night of the golem’s first appearance when the battle took place, the one that took the life of their other parent. But unless Arleena wanted herself and her sister to both end up like the elf who had given birth to them, she knew exactly what she needed to do. “We run away… just like Eldrian said…”

“And then what?” Eiranee was quickly backing away from the thing, unsure of where to go. 

“I’m not sure… I-” Arleena’s eyes went wide with horror as she seemingly made eye contact with the monster. “I think it sees us…”

“What?!” Eiranee squeaked, her face mimicking the face of her sister almost identically… or literally identically, on account of being twins. 

“We need to go…” Arleena turned towards her sister, taking her hand and running off with her, turning back to see whether the golem was going to chase after them.

And sure enough, it was… whatever had been the center of its attention up to this point was seemingly being relegated to an annoying buzz in the monster’s ear as it followed after the Darkstyle twins. 

Arleena, now leading her sister by the hand, was trying to run as fast as she could, but Eiranee didn’t quite have the speed or stamina that her twin sister had, and Arleena was doing her best not to knock the girl over. 

Eiranee shrieked in fear at the sight of what was happening behind her, and as soon as Arleena turned around to see what it was it was already too late. 

Arleena panicked, watching a massive hunk of rock off of the golem’s body soaring straight at them, seemingly being hurled directly at the pair of girls. There was nothing they could do at this point to stop it, so Arleena did the only thing she could think of to protect her sister, wrapping her arms around Eiranee and trying to use herself as a shield to keep the other girl safe.

**_Bang!!!_ **

The next thing either girl heard was a loud crashing sound behind them, accompanied by a gust of wind emanating from some sort of explosion. 

“Are either of you girls harmed?”

Then the unfamiliar sound of a woman’s voice, accompanied by the sound of flapping wings. 

Arleena opened her eyes and let go of her sister, turning around to try and see what had happened. All of a sudden the massive boulder was buried halfway unter the ground, with a huge indent of some impact that had smacked into the surface of the thing before it could collide with the elves, seemingly from the woman floating between them and the swamp golem. 

It took the two girls a moment to realize what had happened, but seeing the weapon in the other woman’s hand was enough to help her piece together what had happened. The airborne creature that had been little more than a nuisance buzzing in the golem’s ear wasn’t a bird after all, it was this woman.

She was a strange looking creature that neither of the girls had ever  **seen** in person before, though she was something that the two of them most certainly recognized, and it almost disgusted Arleena that one of them was here, instead of deep inside the capital of the hobgoblin empire.

The boulder had been beaten into the ground by the mace in the woman’s hands, deflected from its original trajectory, but the woman herself wasn’t touching the ground, she was flying above it. Her two yellowish white wings were flapping, keeping herself in the air as her strange birdlike feet and talons dangled above the ground below. 

“A… harpy?” Eiranee was shocked to be seeing one, but she wasn’t quite as disgusted as her sister seemed to be.

“Don’t you dare talk to my sister.” Arleena however, was pissed. She had hoped to never see one in her life, yet here it was. “I know what you are…”

“My apologies, Ma’am… I won’t speak out of line.” Despite practically being snarled at, the harpy woman remained respectful. She wasn’t upset, she was used to this, her presence always garnered her this sort of response, regardless of who it was from. “I apologize for blighting you with my presence, I’m doing my best to atone for my past sins.”

Arleena growled, she was unsure which creature she hated more, but right now the swamp golem was narrowly beating out the woman in that regard, having just gotten her life saved by the harpy. “It’s going to take a lot more than you think to atone for your people’s sins, you-”

“Where do we go from here?” Eiranee snapped her back to the present moment, putting her own hand over her sister’s to prevent Arleena from wielding her blade against the winged woman who had just put herself on the line to save their lives. 

“I’m not sure…” Arleena took her hand off of the handle of her blade, letting her sister take her hand once more as the two of them scanned for which direction would be safest to run off towards. 

“I thank you for your patience, Miss… I assure you, it’s my mission to atone for my predecessor’s sins.” The harpy woman piped up again, at first seemingly addressing Arleena’s comment, but after a moment it was clear she was just trying to get the twin’s attention.

The harpy woman lifted her mace, pointing in not towards the swamp golem, but towards the forest, answering Eiranee’s question of where to go without speaking to the elf directly, as she had been instructed to, actually listening the short but spirited command that the elf’s sister had given her. 

“Thank you, Miss.” Eiranee smiled, squeezing Arleena’s hand and tugging her away from the winged woman in time for them to avoid the swamp golem’s following attacks altogether, running off in the forest together. 

And so they continued running, following the direction given to them by the harpy woman until seemingly they had gotten away, finally coming to a safe clearing, having escaped the battle.

“We almost died…” Eiranee had always been nervous, skittish, and scared. “We would have died if it weren’t for that woman.”

“That doesn’t change what she is.” Her sister meanwhile, was the confident one, brave, eager, honorable. But as honorable as Arleena tried to be, she just couldn’t bring herself to not be disgusted by that woman, even if she had saved her and her sister’s lives. “She’s a monster.”

“She’s just a harpy.” Eiranee protested, needing to stop and catch her breath. “What’s wrong with harpies?”

“They’re fucking hobgoblin footsoldiers, Eiranee.” Arleena practically shouted the answer at her, despite meaning not to. “That’s what’s wrong with harpies.”

“But she’s not with the hobgoblins, sis-”

“We don’t know that!!” Arleena stomped her foot in anger, digging the toe of her boot into the ground below. “The hobgoblins were the ones who summoned the swamp golem, this could be them attacking again!!”

“But that just doesn’t make sense!!” Eiranee contested this idea that the harpy woman was something to be hated just based off of what she was. “If she was with the hobgoblins, then why would she save our lives?”

“I don’t know, but…” Arleena swallowed nervously, looking up at the sky and biting her cheek in anger as she watched the very same harpy fly over them, heading off into the forest above the trees. “We’re about to find out.”

“Very good, Valonda…” Eia smiled, letting the five foot tall bird girl sit on one of her outstretched arms. “Have you seen your sisters?”

“I haven’t seen Miss Killtree… but Miss Najistrae had gotten into some scuffle with a dark elf.” Valonda sighed, lowering her head out of respect for her master. “Is the Master finished with the village, then?”

“Now that things have gotten out of hand, yes, I think so.” Eia sighed, slightly regretting getting into a big enough scuffle to attract the swamp golem to the village with the sounds of fighting. “Now we just wait for your sisters.”

“There are two females waiting behind the trees, Master…” The harpy girl swallowed nervously. “But I don’t think those are them…”

“Oh really?” The wendigo snarled excitedly. “Then who exactly  **has** followed me and my little songbird out this far, hmm?”

Arleena swallowed nervously, staring at the monstrous beast from behind the trees, standing between it and her twin sister as she pulled her sword from her hip. “The wendigo…”

“We need to get out of here, Arleena.” Eiranee looped her arm around Arleena’s, pleading and begging for her sister to run away with her. 

“No…” Arleena pulled herself away from the other elf, stepping forward towards the monster. “ **You** need to get out of here…”

“Arleena, I-”

“Go.” Arleena sighed, steeling herself for what was about to happen. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“You promise?” Eiranee whimpered, quickly backing away from the approaching monster.

Arleena nodded, now looking up at the wendigo in front of her, ready to put her life on the line so that her sister could get away, just like the older elf had done for her. “I promise~”

But Arleena wasn’t able to keep that promise.

↞✶↠

“What do you mean you’re not Lady Protector anymore?!” Fennecca practically slammed the palm of her single intact paw on the tabletop out of sheer anger, her other arm hanging in a sling suspended from her neck, having had her left wrist completely shattered by the wendigo just a few nights prior. “What the fuck happened to you, Mom? When did  **both** of my mothers decide to start kissing up to some jackalope?”

“Now slow down, Fennecca.” Zawdra sighed, trying to calm the young minx woman down before she got too out of sorts. “It’s going to be alright, I promise.”

“No it’s not, mother!!” Fennecca was absolutely flabbergasted, this was all absolutely unbelievable for her. “When were you going to tell me this?”

“You would have known once it was made  _ public _ .” Zawdra turned to the young human man sitting at one of the tables off in the corner, giving him an angry side eye as she grumbled under her breath. “And not a moment sooner…”

“My eyes are right here, Zawdra.” Fennecca snarled angrily, always one to get flustered when she felt like she wasn’t being taken seriously. “This is between you and me, and not Kouzonn.”

“I need you to calm down, sweetheart. Everything is going to be fine, I would and  _ have _ bet my honor on it.” The gargoyle woman smiled, trying to console her furious teenage step-daughter. “When have you ever known me to do something that might hurt you.”

“When you decided you didn’t want to take that monster’s life on the spot, that’s when.” Fennecca was almost crying, that was how angry she was. “You two always tell me to trust you, but when I needed you most, you decided to let that fiend walk away with my mother.”

“Fennecca, sweetie, I think-”

“ **You** told me to signal for you when there was trouble. You told me to let out a flare when I was scared and didn’t know what to do. But if I’d known you were just going to let her slip away, I would have taken her head off  **myself** .” 

Zawdra’s caring smile quickly turned into a stern scowl, there was absolutely no way in the world that her adoptive daughter could stand up to a creature that strong, and she couldn’t just let the minx girl kill herself trying. “That’s enough, Fennecca. You are fourteen years old, if you don’t stop this instant, I’m taking you home.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you until my  **real** mother has been returned to me, and if I have to take that freak’s furry antlered head to do it, I will.”

Zawdra felt the weight of Fennecca’s words, the implication that she somehow wasn’t Fennecca’s real mother hurt her. All she wanted was to keep the girl safe, and that was what she was going to do. “You’re not going to do anything of the sort, especially not with a broken wrist!!”

“I only need one hand to wield a sword.” Fennecca snapped back at her, reaching down to her hip and unsheathing her weapon, the fantastical elven sword had a hilt shaped like a star, with ten points in total, five small spokes alternating between five larger spokes. It was remarkably polished and well cared for, the blade was sharp, and it snapped into the sheath perfectly. “Besides, she left my fighting paw completely untouched.” 

Fennecca didn’t know the sword’s name, but she knew it definitely had one, just like she knew its former owner had a name, even if she didn’t know what that name was. No sword was this well cared for if it didn’t have a name, Fennecca just couldn’t read the elvish glyphs carved into its blade. The blade itself had a stunningly beautiful tint to it, shining a faint blue hue as it reflected light, almost making the sword look blue. She couldn’t say for sure that it was magical, but she also couldn’t say that it wasn’t. 

Either way, Fennecca was keeping it. 

“Where did you get that, honey?” The gargoyle was taken aback by the sword and its eerie radiance for just a moment, unable to recognize the new weapon. “Rhakkiza, did you give her that?”

The gnome blacksmith sitting behind the front desk suddenly jumped to attention, dropping whatever it was she was tinkering with in panic as she looked up. “Wh-what? N-no? I don’t think so?”

“It came from mom’s arsenal.” Fennecca put the sword back in its sheath. “It was among the weapons from the situation room.”

“Give me that, right now.” Zawdra shook her head and held out her hand, expecting her daughter to give it to her without a fuss, this was getting out of hand and it needed to be stopped. “I don’t want to hear another word from you, young lady.”

Fennecca bit her lip, staring at the gargoyle’s palm for a moment before returning her gaze, scoffing at the now former lady protector. “Then you’re not going to hear another word from me… Come on Rhakkiza, we’re leaving.” 

The gnome girl’s eyes darted around the room in confusion, caught off guard by her minx friend’s falling out with her mother. “B-but… I’m at work?”

“Just come on already… I have monsters to slay.” Fennecca shot Zawdra one final angry glare as she pushed past her, already on her way out the door. 

The gargoyle woman didn’t respond. She could see how hurt her daughter was, and she was helpless to do anything about it, even worse, she felt like it was somehow all her fault. 

“Take the day off, Nairi.” The human man stood up from the table he was seated at, catching the keys being tossed at him as the young gnome girl got up from her desk, scurrying her way out of the building while calling for her friend to wait up. The two adults in the room paused, waiting and watching as the pair of kids finally left. “Besides… you’re here to talk to me, aren’t you?”

“What the hell, Kouzonn?” Zawdra turned her ire onto him, crossing her arms in front of her chest in frustration. “What all have you been telling her?”

The human man chuckled, shaking his head as he sat down behind the desk. “She’s been hanging around my apprentice, she’s gonna hear the latest gossip as it happens.”

“That is not an excuse for feeding her classified information, and you and I both know that’s not why you’re doing it.” Zawdra had half a mind to beat the human man senseless here and now. “If my daughter ends up getting hurt because of you, I will shove you into your own forge and burn you alive.”

“I assure you, that’s going to be harder than it sounds. I didn’t get to the position of quartermaster by letting earth elementals shove me around… I’m better than that~” 

“I don’t know what sick thoughts might be going through your head that tell you that you’re better than me all of a sudden, but you had better not be spoiling my girl’s mind with your nonsense.”

“I was better than you as soon as you stopped being the lady protector~”

“You  **would** have outranked me if you hadn’t resigned as quartermaster, but as soon as I stopped being lady protector, you turned tail and ran.”

“One of us has to retain their dignity, Nightingale.”

“And which of us do you suppose that is, Kouzonn?”

“If I had to bet-” Kouzonn’s smile turned into a frown as he glanced out of the front window of his shop. “I’d have to say it’s your daughter out there… and not the woman running around on a hobgoblin’s beck and call.”

“Ouch. That’s harsh. You haven’t even gotten the chance to know me yet, Mister-” The door swung open as another woman stepped through the door, taking a glance around the shop as she stepped towards the gargoyle. “What was your name again?”

“Kouzonn.” He gave the hobgoblin a very sarcastic smile, rolling his eyes and turning back to the forge behind him. “And I think I’ll pass on the getting to know you portion of today’s activities, Imperial Najistrae.”

“Cerilla works just fine, last names are overrated anyways.” The former general sat down at the table where the human man was once seated, kicking her legs up and relaxing. “You got a last name, Mr. Kouzonn?”

“Not one I’m going to tell you, hobgoblin.”

“Fair enough?” Cerilla smiled, a lesser soldier might have gotten angry at the disrespect she was being shown, but the former general didn’t much mind. “So this is the man who I’m replacing, huh?”

“That’s correct, Ma’am.” The gargoyle sighed, grinding her teeth at the both of them. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go have a word with my daughter before she gets hurt.”

“Ah ah ah!!” Cerilla grabbed Zawdra’s wrist, stopping her as soon as she tried to walk past her. “Not so fast… have a seat~”

Nightingale yanked her hand away from the other woman, seething with anger. “Cerilla, I do not have time for this right now.”

“But you’ve been such a good girl so far… you wouldn’t want me to tell my master that this isn't going to turn out, do you?” Cerilla kicked one of the chairs across from her, gesturing for her to sit in it. “Now do as I say, and have a seat.”

“I also don’t want my only daughter marching straight up to your master’s face and getting killed, please.” Zawdra really didn’t have time for this right now, she needed to grab Fennecca and drag her back home before she did something stupid. 

“She’s an adult. If she gets killed, that’s her own damn fault… but I have faith that she won’t.” Cerilla tapped her claws on the table in front of her, now pointing at the chair. “Last chance to do as you’re told before I hunt her down myself.”

Zawdra bit her lip nervously, staring out of the window as she snarled, standing across the table from the hobgoblin. “You’re just like your mother, you know that?”

“And she’s just like hers~” Cerilla had an evil grin on her face as she glanced out the window, before turning her gaze to the human man at the forge. “What about you, you got a mom?”

“Not one that I’m going to tell you about, that’s for sure.” Kouzonn had the same smirk on his face as he sarcastically returned the hobgoblin’s remarks as she did. “Let’s just thank the gods that you’ll never become empress, huh?”

“You can thank whoever you’d like…” Cerilla’s smile only got bigger, filled with a sinister cackle that she so often held back, the cackle of someone who knew something that nobody else did. “But rest assured, your gods can’t hear you~”

↞✶↠

“What in the world…” Brinia swallowed nervously as she looked up at the hulking beast ahead. “Is that… what I think it is?”

“The swamp golem.” Arleena nodded, quickly signalling for Demma to back up, trying to keep both of her sisters a safe distance away from the creature. “Yeah…”

“What are we supposed to do?” Brinia clutched the staff to her chest, desperately wishing that she could tap into her well of magical potential.

“Don’t let it see you. Don’t let it hear you.” Arleena didn’t even bother reaching for her own weapon, fully aware that it would do her no good. “Don’t let it know you’re here.”

“Why not? What happens then?” Brinia and the other girls were all whispering, save for Demma, who was still functionally mute while she was forced to bite down on her reins. The sphinx woman, though large, was still a cat, silently slinking back as to make sure that neither her front paws nor her back paws stepped on anything that would make a little bit too much noise.

“Well if it notices you, it’ll attack.” Arleena did the same, remaining as quiet as possible as she both spoke and moved. “Simple as that.”

Brinia gripped onto Demma’s reins as tight as she could, trying to keep herself calm in the face of a monster that could quite easily crush her. “And how do you know that?”

“Just look at it, dryad.” Arleena scoffed just a little bit louder than she probably ought to have. “Does that look like the kind of creature that you can stop and reason with?”

“No…” Brinia sighed, still unsure of whether she can trust the wraith woman and her judgement. “But to be fair, neither do you.”

“If you want to fight the golem, go ahead.” Arleena groaned angrily. “Or maybe you’d rather fight me?”

“Is this really the time for this?” Brinia sighed, just as annoyed at Arleena as Arleena was at her. “Shouldn’t we be getting away?”

“Yeah, we should be getting away. But apparently you’ve found the time to call me ugly right to my face.”

“I didn’t say you were ugly, Arleena. You should know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean by that, huh?”

“I was just saying maybe you can reason with it-”

“Since when do you stop to reason with things before you attack them?” 

“Since  **right now** , Arleena.

“Because you sure didn’t do that with me-”

“I already told you, I’m sorry.”

**GROOOOOOAAAWWRRRRRR!!!!!!**

Still unable to talk, Demma growled at the two of them… but not before the swamp golem let out an earth shattering roar, letting the girls know that they have most certainly been noticed. 

_ Good going, Alistora. You should know better.  _ Brinia instantly started kicking herself for getting out of control.  _ She’s just trying to make you as upset at her as she is at you. You should be the bigger person. _

**_I hate to butt in with unnecessary interruptions, but this is maybe not the time for self reflection, Brinia._ **

Arleena didn’t waste another moment once she realized the golem was after them, leaping onto Demma’s back behind the dryad and waiting for Brinia to whip her sister’s reins to get her going. “We need to go, now.”

Demmara clearly didn’t like having her reins pulled on by anyone but her master, or really anyone at all, she didn’t like being Eia’s mount in the first place, but she still followed Arleena’s directions, dashing away from the gigantic monster through the forest at full speed. 

The swamp golem was clearly not very happy to see them, because as soon as they started to move, it instantly gave chase, knocking over tree after tree in the process.

_ Fuck. It’s chasing us.  _ Brinia tightened her grip around the reins, helping to steer Demma around to avoid hunks of trees being shattered and flung from behind them. 

But at the same time Brinia tightened her grip on the reins, she felt Arleena tightening her grip around her waist from behind, holding herself close to the dryad.

_ What is she doing?  _ Alistora could feel the tension in her sisters arms, the fear rattling her body as her hands trembled and her grip shook, periodically growing loose every few moments before Arleena tightened her grip anew. 

All three of them could surely feel their own hearts beating out of their chests with fear, but Arleena seemed to be the most affected by what was happening, despite them all being in danger.

Brinia was sweating in terror, but she wasn’t sure whether the drops running down her sister’s cheeks were sweat or tears. Arleena was a hunter and a warrior, but something about the golem rattled her.

She reminded Brinia of her own daughter, wanting so desperately to make her proud. Fennecca tried to make herself seem confident, she tried to be so much braver than she really was, she took after her mother like that. She tried to be so much more than she really was.

Despite everything, Fennecca was still a scared child, learning and growing, and that was okay. It was okay that she had weaknesses, it was okay that she couldn’t do everything.

“It’s okay if you’re scared.” Brinia nudged the wraith, trying to console the girl. “But we’re in this together.” 

She could hear the sounds of the forest falling apart behind her, the trees being crushed under the behemoth’s feet, and the dryad still couldn’t let go of her responsibility to protect her wilderness just yet. 

“I need you here with me, Arleena… I need help.” Brinia’s voice was shaking as she spoke, her weakness showing, she alone couldn’t stop this thing, knowing that the forest was no longer hers to protect. “I need Master…”

“Do you know-” Arleena swallowed her fear, slowly pulling herself back together. “Do you know how to whistle?”

“Whistle?” Brinia nodded, looking down at the reins in her still bound hands.  _ Of course… _

“All you have to do is put one or both of your hands on your collar and whistle.”

“And what will that do? How does it work?”

“Your collar is magically linked to her ring, it’s like proprioception, she can magically tell where you are at any time, like you’re a part of her.”

“And if I whistle for her… she’ll know that I need her.” Brinia took a deep breath as she momentarily let go of the reins, clasping both hands around her collar as whistled, hoping it wasn’t out of line to ask for the wendigo’s help. 

Thankfully for her sisters, Demma wasn’t an ordinary mount, she was more than capable of steering herself out of the way of oncoming trees. 

The danger that the swamp golem imposed was not something that could be overstated. The creature was absolutely massive, if any of them found themself under one of its feet, they would be dead in an instant. The titan could level buildings in a single swing if it wanted to so it was important that they lose it somehow, before they accidentally lead it back to civilization. 

The swamp golem had already leveled one settlement, and Brinia wasn’t about to let it destroy another. They came out here to search for food, but they would have to keep from becoming food first.

“Shouldn’t you girls be hunting for smaller prey?” Seemingly out of nowhere, the three of them heard their master’s voice from behind them. “I think this one might be a little bit out of your league, don’t you think?”

“We weren’t  **trying** to hunt it down, Master, I swear.” Arleena whined, unable to help but think this was all her fault. “It’s my fault again, I’m sorry-”

“Hush now, my little dolly.” Eia quickly caught up to them from behind, pulling up beside them. To Arleena’s disappointment unfortunately, the wendigo was not riding on Hawkney’s back, but rushing through the foliage on all fours, just like Demma was. “I need you to keep it together, love.”

“Yes, Master. What do you need me to do?” Arleena nodded, quickly being snapped to working order by her master’s words. “What do you need  **us** to do?”

“I’m a cheetah, not a gazelle. I can’t keep running like this for very much longer.” Eia had slowed down since catching up to her brides, but at her fastest she was moving at blinding speeds, her rabbit legs propelling her across the grounds as her front paws helped her land after each bound, looking just like Demma, a big cat sprinting across the fog wastes, narrowly avoiding collisions with the trees in front of her.

But Eia wasn’t the only creature that was now running alongside the girls as they fled from the terrifying clay golem, still knocking trees over behind them. There was a herd of deer now forming around them, running away from the towering beast as well. 

“I’ll take care of mudblood over here, get them chasing me instead… You girls try to bag some of these littler beasties, but make sure you get to safety, you got that?” 

“You’re going to distract it?” Brinia protested, feeling like this wasn’t exactly a very good idea. “But you just said you can’t outrun it for very much longer?”

“I know what I’m doing, Alistora… and I am not planning on outrunning it, that’s for sure.” Eia smiled, eager to see the dryad’s seeming concern for her safety, even though she should honestly be annoyed at her talking back. “Arleena, you’re in charge, I love you both~”

“I won’t let you down, Ma’am.” Arleena nodded, finally letting go of her grasp around the dryad’s waist and retaking the reins. 

Brinia wasn’t even upset that Eia had seemingly ignored her when delivering good wishes and  _ I love you’s _ to her other two brides, but she didn’t have much time to delight in being ignored before the dashing wendigo shouted at her again. “I need the staff. Now.”

Brinia groaned, not wanting to part with it, even if taking care of it for her master was her only job, especially knowing how often she clung to it for comfort. Nevertheless, Brinia sighed, pulling the staff away from herself and tossing it towards Eia. 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Eia jump, leaping into the air and catching the staff in her mouth, as if she was fetching a stick that was being thrown at her, landing safely back on her feet without missing a single beat or breaking her stride, turning to the dryad and giving her a nod of acknowledgement. Almost like saying  _ good girl _ without having to use a single word, the staff in her mouth now gagging and silencing her like her sphinx bride’s reins were doing for her. 

The dryad didn’t know what to expect, but she most certainly didn’t expect Eia’s eyes to begin glowing with a bright white light, magically bathing her with an aura of magical power as she ran, gradually falling behind the other girls as she allowed the rest of the pack to speed ahead of her, trying to make herself the center of the swamp golem’s attention.

And judging on the golem’s reaction, it was working, the monster could see the wendigo’s brilliant aura, and it did not like that very much. 

Arleena hooked her foot into one of Demma’s stirrups, swinging around the side of Brinia and getting in front of her before climbing back on, better able to steer her sister from in the front of the saddle rather than the back. As she did so, the two girls very briefly made eye contact, neither of them happy at each other, but both of them able to tell that the other was sorry. 

“Think you can follow  **my** orders, girls?” Arleena, for the first time since Brinia had met her, seemed confident, taking control of the situation as it was given to her. Demma of course couldn’t give her a verbal response, so she simply nodded her head. 

Brinia took a moment to think about it, but it didn’t take her very long before she could tell that there was no other option. “What do you need me to do?”

“In a second, I’m gonna free your hands.” Arleena peaked over her own shoulders, waiting to see what was happening behind her. “Once Master has gotten that thing’s attention, I need you to grab the bow off of my back and start taking out some of these does.”

“Looks like she’s already got her attention.” Brinia nodded, holding her hands apart so that her wrist bindings could be safely cut apart. “What do we do if she can’t get it off of our tail?”

“Like Master said, we’re going to try and snag some of these beasties, but if worst comes to worst, we can drop them to the forest floor to try and slow that thing down.” Arleena turned to look at the dryad, actually smiling as she pulled her sword from her sheathe just slightly. “We might not be able to keep all of our prey, but we can at least use them to distract the swamp golem.”

Brinia smiled, hooking her restraints around the other side of the wraith’s semi sheathed blade, pulling on it with the ropes keeping her wrists tied together and slicing through them. “You’re a better hunter than I thought you were~”

“Of course I am.” Arleena smirked, leaning forward slightly to give the dryad a better time pulling the bow from her back. “I’m no weakling, Alistora. I’m a warrior~”

“Yes, Ma’am~” Brinia swiveled in place on the saddle, turning her back towards Arleena as she strung the bow out in front of her, moving with elegant faerie quickness as she reached behind and pulled the first arrow from Arleena’s quiver as she sat back up, pinching it between her fingers and pulling it to her as if the quiver was attached to her own back rather than Arleena’s.

Alistora brought the arrow to her bow, knocking it back and taking aim before sending it sailing through the air and between the eyes of the nearest doe, putting the creature to rest in an instant with her terrifying precision, not letting the animal feel pain for even just a moment. 

Brinia felt terribly guilty for having to do this, she never liked harming the animals of her forest, but she knew right now that it was what had to be done.

As she reached back for another arrow, her body now turned towards the scene behind her, she got a much clearer view of what was happening with the golem as it continued to trounce through the forest. 

Eia had slowed down considerably, but so had the swamp golem, through no fault of its own. Brinia could quite clearly see the magic trailing from the end of her staff as the wendigo continued to be chased, clutching the weapon in her mouth. 

She was doing her best to slow the thing down, but she was woefully undersized when compared to the massive husk that was the swamp golem. With the staff’s help she was putting down lots of little obstacles to slow the monster down behind her, using the magic of the Hollow’s Heart to change the terrain to her benefit. 

Brinia knocked back another couple of arrows, slaying at least a quarter of the herd while intermittently making eye contact with Eia. 

The wendigo took notice of course, and she was slowing down quite considerably. It would seem that she was ultimately waiting for her brides to get far enough ahead of her, and to down enough does to give her the cue to cut this thing off. 

The last thing Brinia saw from Eia was her master giving her a wink, before raising a ginormous wooded barrier of trees between herself and the fleeing herd of does surrounding her slaves, cutting the swamp golem off from being able to chase after the rest of the girls. 

Brinia had another arrow cocked and ready to be sent soaring towards another poor deer, but before she could let it fly off of the bow, she saw the path of destruction behind them quickly take a sharp turn, as the swamp golem chased Eia off in a lateral direction.

The dryad only panicked for just a moment, before she realized that the wendigo was now taking the monster away from the direction her brides were headed… and she couldn’t help but smile seeing that. 

“Look alive, Alistora.” Arleena kicked the dryad’s leg to get her attention, her foot still in the stirrup. “We still have a job to do.”

Brinia turned behind her and gave Arleena a nod, coming up with a better idea than sending arrows flying through skulls. “There’s rope in here, right?”

“Some, yeah.” Arleena took her left foot out of the stirrup and kicked the saddle pocket behind her. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“If we have to stop and pick up corpses, that’s just going to slow us down.” Brinia opened the pocket, pulling out several bundles of rope and beginning to get to work on tying them into something useful. “I’m going to lasso them to us.”

“I see where this is going.” Arleena pushed her foot back in the stirrup, pulling on the reins to get Demma to pick up the pace. “But there’s only so many we’re going to be able to keep reined in before they start dragging us down.”

“Not if we can get them to keep pace with us~” Brinia smirked, putting two of her fingers to her mouth and whistling at the herd of does behind and around them. “We can catch them all and bring them back alive~”

“I mean if you think you can handle it, then you’re welcome to go ahead and try.” 

Brinia managed to scrap something together to help her lasso as many does as she could, somehow managing to affix the lasso to an arrow and shoot it at one of the deer, successfully wrangling the first one alive. “Just watch me~”

↞✶↠

“Just what the fuck does my mother think she’s doing?” Fennecca was not happy, not at all. 

“Ummm… which one?” The gnome girl, Rhakkiza, was also not happy, but she also wasn’t upset like the other girl was. 

“Either of them, honestly…” Fennecca sighed, shuddering to think about what was happening. “I mean… were you there when the wendigo first came to town?”

“Y-yeah…” The gnome woman blushed ever so slightly. 

“So you saw my mother… you know?”

“Kneel for the wendigo?” Rhakkiza giggled to herself just thinking about it. “Yeah… I did…”

“Eugh…” The coyote girl groaned. “The whole town has been laughing at me since then…”

“Well… I’m not laughing at you.” The shorter girl blushed, smiling up at Fennecca. 

The coyote girl smiled, blushing awkwardly. “You aren’t?”

“Nuh-uh.” Rhakkiza shook her head, getting flustered over her obvious crush on the bigger girl. “I mean… I would kneel for you anyday~”

“Oh shut up!!” Fennecca blushed, crossing her arms in front of her chest in embarrassment. “My mother would absolutely hit you upside the head for saying that if she were here.”

“Who… me?” Zawdra fluttered down to the street below from the roof of one of the buildings above. “Or do you mean your  **real** mother?”

Fennecca frowned, averting her gaze away from the gargoyle as soon as she saw her, sighing to herself under her breath. “What do you want, mom?”

“To keep you from doing something stupid, just like your mother always seems to do…”

“Who… you?” Fennecca scoffed, mimicking her mother’s words. “Or do you mean your girlfriend?”

“Look, honey… I know this is all confusing, but…” Zawdra was never very good with kids, even and especially when it came to her own step-daughter. “I’m doing all of this for you.”

“For  **me** ?!” Fennecca snarled at just the thought of it. “How is any of this sick shit for me, mother?!”

Zawdra whined, quickly getting exhausted just knowing that her daughter was upset at her. “I’m doing what I can to make sure you and your mother will be able to safely see each other again…”

“Well maybe I don’t want to see her again, have you thought of that??” Fennecca shouted angrily, tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes as she struggled to speak. “If she’s going to just up and betray everyone… then maybe I don’t want to see her again… okay?”

“Don’t say things like that, honey…” Zawdra may not have been very good with teenagers, but although she wanted to hit the girl upside the head just for saying something like that, she had good enough judgement to know better, instead opting to grab the poor girl by her paws and squeeze them, trying to comfort her. “Look, I know I’m not your mom, but… please come home with me… I’m doing everything I can to bring her back…”

“The whole town is laughing at me… because they know that my mother, just… eugh…” Fennecca sniffled back her tears, her face still flushed with anger as she forced herself to look away, glancing to the side over at Rhakkiza, who had stepped away to give them some space and was slowly drifting further and further away from the minx and her mother, wondering if she ought to just go home here and now. “It’s not fair, mom…”

“I know it’s not fair, honey… I know. But I promise that I’m always going to be here to protect you… even if that means I’m gonna have to rush in and fight your battles with you…” Zawdra smiled, wiping away the tears from the coyote girl’s eyes. “Rhakkiza’s not laughing at you, right?”

“Rhakkiza may not be laughing at anything for very much longer.” The gnome girl felt someone grabbing her by her shoulders, quickly freaking out as she saw the sharp claws and orange skin of Cerilla’s hands holding her steady. Immediately able to recognize her as a hobgoblin. 

“No!!” Rhakkiza began to freak out, immediately struggling to escape from the hobgoblin’s grasp as Cerilla forced her to her knees on the ground in front of her. “No please!! I already work for someone!!”

Fennecca snarled, pushing her mother away as soon as she could, her eyes widening with fear, anger, and despair as she lunged towards the hobgoblin, tears just about falling from her eyes as she unsheathed her blade, watching it glow in front of her. 

“Careful little Alistora… listen to your mom and do as the grown ups say while we-” Cerilla loosened her grip on the gnome girl’s shoulders, and it was just enough for poor terrified Rhakkiza to slip away from her and take shelter behind the lady protector. “That’s not your sword.”

For a moment Fennecca thought that she might have scared the hobgoblin, but it quickly turned out that the former general just wanted to take her sword from her. “It’s mine now.”

“Give me the sword, mutt.” Cerilla snarled. “Quickly, before I’m forced to pry it out of your cold dead hands.”

“Just try and take it from me, you-”

“ **That’s enough!!!** ” Fennecca felt someone grabbing her own shoulder, as her mother’s stony grasp tightened around her, pulling her backwards and out of the way. 

The minx woman snarled, just about ready to shout at Zawdra before she realized what was happening. She couldn’t help but smile seeing her walking towards the evil hobgoblin warlord, pulling her own sword from its sheath. 

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on my daughter, you fiend.” Zawdra snarled at the hobgoblin. “Threaten her again, and I will take your head.”

“Oh really?” Cerilla snarled, snagging a dagger from her waist. “You want to fight me again, after what happened last time?”

“If it means keeping you away from Fennecca, then yes.”

Fennecca swallowed nervously, trying to find any way she could help. “Mom, I-” 

“Get Rhakkiza and get out of here, now!!” Zawdra didn’t usually get angry, but when she did, it most certainly wasn’t a good sign.

Cerilla just stood there and watched as both Fennecca and her friend fled, unable to chase after Rhakkiza or the sword without taking Nightingale down first. “And we used to be such good friends…”

“We were never friends, Najistrae.” The gargoyle brandished her sword. “And we never will be.”

“Oh don’t say that, Zawdra… I’m wonderful once you get to know me… just ask Cinna~”

“Say that name around me  **one more time,** and I swear to the gods, I will take you head.”

“Do you really think that’s your place to do, slave?” Cerilla snickered, shaking her head at the gargoyle. “If only your master could see you now…”

“I am no  **slave!!!** ”

“Those scars around your neck say otherwise, don’t you think?” Cerilla growled, pointing a dagger straight at the gargoyle’s neck. “Let me guess… the dryad helped you pry your collar off?”

“I didn’t need help, Najistrae.”

“So she doesn’t know?” Cerilla grinned. “Excellent~”

“And she doesn’t need to know either…” Zawdra pointed her sword at the hobgoblin, mimicking Cerilla’s movements. “Now either fight me… or leave my daughter alone.”

Cerilla frowned, taking a deep breath and sighing. “I hope this is your way of saying that you agree to take the gnome girl’s place in the event of your wife making another fuck up.”

“If that’s what needs to be done… then that’s what needs to be done…” Zawdra’s blade remained steady, confident that Brinia was capable of succeeding as a slave, much like she once had been forced to do. “But I’m not going to let you hurt my daughter.”

↞✶↠

Demma and the pair of her sisters along for the ride on her back could still hear the thunderous roars of the monster in the distance, growing ever further away yet still earth shatteringly loud enough to shake the entire forest around it. 

But they had done it, they had done exactly what their master wanted them to do, they had escaped the swamp golem, and snagged a whole herd of prey along the way. 

“That’s all of them.” Brinia lowered the bow, unable to see any remaining deer that hadn’t already ran away from the pack, sighing to herself with satisfaction as she counted the amount of does that she had successfully lassoed. “We should probably go home and get these gals wrangled into some sort of pen, right?”

“No.” Arleena shot the idea down on the spot. “We’re going back to our camp and waiting for our master.”

“We should really stop and talk about that first, don’t you think?”

“Look, we’re almost there already, we can stop and talk once we’ve reached camp.”

So that’s what they did, the group minus Eia and Hawkney arrived back in the clearing where they had set up camp for the night, a small herd of at least eight or nine doe now in tow.

“So what now?” Brinia swung her legs to one side and carefully lowered herself to the ground, her hands now free to help her. 

“Like I said, we wait for our master.”

“Arleena that’s ridiculous, do you really think-”

“No it’s not ridiculous!! We don’t have the liberty to make those kinds of decisions on our own, Alistora!!”

“If we stay out here, we could get killed.”

“And if we leave our Master out here alone, she could get killed too!!”

The two’s bickering was quickly brought to silence by an angry roar from their sister, Demmara, now angrily stomping her feet and growling for someone to undo her bondage.

Arleena quickly obliged, approaching her and removing the headgear keeping the sphinx’s gag in place. “Sorry, Demma… we should have done this a while ago.”

“Look, I don’t care what you two think,  **I** am going to make sure that my sisters and master are fed tonight.” Demma growled angrily, grinding her fangs together. “But  **you two** need to stay and sort out whatever dysfunction you have with each other before you get yourselves, each other, or our master killed. Is that understood?”

Arleena protested. “You’re not our Master, Demma, you can’t just-”

“Is that understood?!” Demma stomped her foot, baring her fangs and growling at the wraith. 

Arleena, of course, simply backed off and nodded. “Understood…”

“I’m going, and I’m taking the deer with me.” Demma briefly looked over at the dryad before turning away from them both. “I don’t want to hear another word from either of you until I get back… You just about got us killed back there.”

Neither of her sisters could dispute that, or argue with her reasoning, so without much of a fuss from either of her sisters, Demmara turned around and started back home, leaving the two of them alone together, not bothering to say a word until both Demma and their captured prey were both completely out of sight.

“So…” Brinia was the first to break the silence, not sure exactly what she should say now that she had kind of already gotten her way, seeing the does sent safely back home.

“I know you don’t care whether Eia lives or not.” Arleena, on the other hand, had a lot she needed to say. “But I do…”

“Why?” Brinia knew very well that it wasn’t her place to say, but she just couldn’t understand it. “How can you love her after everything she’s done to you?”

“What could you possibly know about what  **she’s** done to  **me** . You don’t know me…”

“I know what I’ve been told.”

“And that is?”

“That she murdered you, in cold blood.”

“You weren’t there.”

“But Cerilla was… and I have no reason to suspect that she was lying.”

Arleena paused for a moment, shuddering at the cold air around them. “So what if she killed me…”

“How could you not hate her for killing you?” Brinia continued. “I may have gotten close, but I didn’t kill you… yet you still hate me.”

“That was six days ago!!” Arleena snarled. “I’ve served as her loyal and obedient night for more than eight years!!”

“But you’re a wraith, you came back to life to kill her… How can you have gone eight years, and not gone through with that yet?”

“That’s because you don’t understand the implications of what would happen if she dies…” Arleena choked on her anger, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. “I came back from the dead to kill her, but once I do… I die too.”

“Is that why you’re so afraid of her dying?”

Arleena nodded. “I can’t go back… I don’t want to go back…”

“Death is something that comes for everyone, Arleena…” Brinia sighed, unable to look her sister in the eyes as she spoke. “You have to return to your goddess’ side eventually, just like everyone else… Someday you’re going to end up in the elven halls of the afterlife…”

There was a brief pause as Arleena’s tears began running down her face again just thinking about it. “No I won’t…”

“Yes, you will, Arleena… You just-”

“You still don’t understand.” Arleena gritted her teeth, her skin growing cold with fear and anxiety. “I’ve been to the afterlife once before, Alistora.”

Brinia paused, her heart squeezing in her chest as she listened. “And?”

“And my soul was delivered straight to Zophiel’s court…” Arleena’s ears were ringing as she spoke about it, the memories of that place burning in her mind like an inferno. “I didn’t end up in the great elven halls with Cirriona… I was delivered straight to the hanging den of the god of monsters…”

“I… How could that be… I-” Brinia stopped, suddenly hearing footsteps approaching from behind her. “Something’s coming?”

“Hawkney~!!” The sight of her beloved mount returning brought the light in Arleena’s eyes back to life as she quickly rushed to his side, instantly being embraced by the cockatrice.

Brinia smiled, following after them, quickly noticing that the beast was caring something in its mouth as it approached. “Is that-”

“The staff…” Arleena took it from the creature’s mouth, holding it out in her hand. “What was it… the Hollow’s Heart?”

“That’s… that should be with Eia…” Brinia almost flinched seeing the staff flying at her all of a sudden, watching Arleena toss it back to her. “How could she have lost it?”

“Unless something bad has happened to her…” 

“Should we go after her then?”

“I don’t know… if she was dead… I would be too, right?”

“Or better yet, she’s dead… and you’re not?”

“That’s not funny…” Arleena didn’t appreciate hearing that, not even slightly. “Aren’t you supposed to be showing her total submission?”

“I am…” Brinia nodded, stopping to think about it for a moment. “But not if she’s dead.”

“We’ll know if she’s dead when she does or doesn’t come back.”

“And with the swamp golem on the loose, how long are you willing to wait?”

“The rest of my goddamn life if it comes to that… besides, someone needs to wait for her, and it’s not like you care about what happens to either of us…”

“So you’re just going to stay here, until what?”

“Until I let my guard down and you kill me in my sleep… that’s what.”

Brinia growled under her breath. “I would never…”

“And why not… you were prepared to kill my master that way… what’s different about me?”

“So you were awake for that…” Brinia took a step back, her heart churning in her chest, filled to burst with fear and regret. She lowered her head in shame, taking a deep breath as she slowly dropped to her knees. “…Why didn’t you tell her?”

Brinia looked up, hearing Arleena’s footsteps, sword in hand as she approached, placing one finger on the glowing grey glyph of the dryad’s collarbone. 

“Because I want the pleasure of teaching you this lesson myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY so ummmmm... I'm broke. Whoops!!
> 
> I put a lot of heart and soul into these things so if you think you'd like to maybe toss a tip at me, go ahead: [Support me here!!](https://ko-fi.com/clairanette)
> 
> I love you all, and I'll see you in the next chapter~


	17. 'Til Death Do Us part

Eia sighed loudly as she made her way back through the forest, dragging her newest kill along behind her, eager to get home and eat. 

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to carry her corpse back for you, Master?” The hobgoblin slave’s voice shook nervously as she spoke, desperate to garner her owner’s approval through her service. 

“You’ve done quite enough, Cerilla… I would appreciate you keeping your hands away from where they don’t belong, I don’t want you ruining  **tonight’s** dinner as well.”

“Y-yes Master, my apologies.” Cerilla folded her arms behind her back, lowering her head in shame. “What do you think happened to the golem, Ma’am?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care… it’s not following us, and that’s what matters.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am… of course!!”

Eia rolled her eyes at her newest slave. Cerilla had started off as an extremely difficult nut to crack, but at least she was beginning to come around to the idea of being a slave. “Slave… can you answer something for me?”

“Yes, Master!!” Cerilla’s eyes leapt to attention as she was addressed, readily able to respond to being called a slave. “Anything and everything… ask and I tell.”

“What do you think happens to people after they die?” Eia stopped, turning around to face the dead elf girl that she was dragging behind her on the end of her rope. “Where do you think her soul went?”

“I…” Cerilla stopped, swallowing nervously. “I don’t know, Master…” 

“You don’t know… or you’re just unable to say?” Eia thumped one foot impatiently. Najistrae had been a member of the most powerful royal family on the face of the world, there was no way that she didn’t know what happened to souls after death. 

“…That one, Ma’am.” Cerilla wanted to answer, but she was magically compelled to keep it a secret, the words quite literally couldn’t form in her mouth. “I’m sorry…”

Eia sighed, turning back towards the forest ahead and continuing on her way, the now dead elf girl’s sword affixed to her hip. “Very well then…”

“Would you like to stop here, or wait until we get home to beat me, Ma’am?” Cerilla kept her gaze pointed down, trying to fulfill the role of slave as best she could. 

Eia stopped, glaring down at her from behind her mask. “You’ve been with me for how long, thrall?”

“Two years, Ma’am…” Cerilla continued staring down at the forest floor, making herself vulnerable. 

“Then you should know by now not to demand punishment.”

“Yes, Master… my apologies…” Cerilla briefly looked up at her master, wanting to ask something in return. “Permission to speak, Ma’am?”

“Permission granted.” Eia hummed, delighted to hear those words coming from the once prideful hobgoblin warrior. “What is it?”

“Do you… hate me?” 

“Of course I don’t hate you, princess… you just need to be kept in line, that’s all~”

“Thank you, Master…” Cerilla continued. “Do you hate the villagers?”

“No.” She sighed. “I’m just disappointed is all.”

“That they wouldn’t let us live in the village, you mean?”

“What else is there to be disappointed about?”

“Nothing, Ma’am, it’s just… I would be angry.” 

“Well, I’m not angry, it was a long shot anyways… I only attacked them because they attacked first, and it’s hard not to get momentarily enraged when someone hurts my brides.” Eia sighed, shaking her head in defeat. “They’re never going to accept us, because they’re never going to understand us… just look at my brides, a hobgoblin and a harpy aren’t creatures that these people are going to accept… let alone their master…”

Cerilla nodded, her mouth curled into a frown as she avoided her master’s disappointed gaze. Her eyes slowly drifted off behind them, before going wide at the sight of the creature behind them. “What… what is  **that** ?’

“Hm?” Eia paused and turned around, shocked to see that the once dead corpse was now on its hands and knees, trying to get back on its feet. “Oh… That’s new…”

Arleena was hacking out blood as she gasped for breath, her entire body trembling as she struggled to keep herself from collapsing under the weight of how much pain she was in. The stinging pain in her chest was so great that it felt like her heart and her lungs were being squeezed into one bulbous mass of an organ.

_ Where am I?  _ Her thoughts were racing. The last thing she could remember was facing down the evil wendigo, before she was suddenly in the middle of some sort of fiendish hellscape, and now she was back here.  _ What happened to me? _

“Well I must say, that’s awfully impressive…” Eia couldn’t help but smile, seemingly delighted to see her prey come back to life for the first time she could remember.

“What the hell…” Cerilla took a step back, doing the only thing she could think to do and hiding behind her master as closely as she could, her magical leash going slack between them. “What is that, Master?”

“A very good question, my dear~” Eia made sure to keep her bride close, unsure of what the creature was capable of. “Does the elf have a name?”

_ Right… the wendigo…  _ Arleena snarled under her breath, looking up at the monster from on her feet, noticing the rope around her neck that she was being dragged along the floor by.  _ The wendigo can talk? _

Indeed the wendigo could talk, as Arleena noted hearing her repeat her question. “I said… do you have a name, doll?”

_ Is that… a woman’s voice… doll?  _ Arleena snarled again, the sounds coming out of her mouth like a zombie. “I’m not your  **doll** , fiend… don’t you dare address me as such…”

Cerilla gasped, taking another step back, looking up at her master for support as the wendigo spoke, shocked that the girl wasn’t some sort of zombie. 

“If you’re not a doll… then who are you?”

“As if I’d give you my name, monster…” Arleena choked on her own spit, forcing its way out of her mouth. She couldn’t tell what was happening, the best she could tell was that the wendigo knocked her out, tied a rope around her neck, and decided to drag her along to her lair, presumably to make her a slave. 

“Well, I think you can get used to being my doll either way…” Arleena got that last part right, just seeing this unfold in front of her was enough for Eia to become hell bent on claiming the girl, even if Arleena was wrong to think that she hadn’t already been killed by the monster. “I’ve never seen a sentient zombie after all…” 

_ Zombie?  _ Arleena paused, her eyes darting around the forest in search of danger, her senses inundated with a fear that slowly creeped into her, clawing its way into the back of her mind and made a home out of it. 

All she saw was the forest, all she heard was the sounds of her own heartbeat, and the gnawing sense that something horrible was going on… and then she looked down. 

All of a sudden it was like she had been dropped into a frozen pool of ice cold water and drowned. Her ears were ringing, dripping blood like she had gotten water stuck in her ears. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t stay afloat. She was sinking.

_ That can’t be…  _ The bloodstains caked onto her tunic weren't from some nightmare she was still struggling to escape, she could remember that woman putting them there, the wendigo hadn’t just knocked her out, she had…  _ Oh god…  _

Her eyes lied there transfixed on her chest, trying to figure out just where it had gone. Arleena may have been short, but she knew that her chest wasn’t this small, whatever cleavage she did have had all been eradicated, and in its place she just saw blood. 

Not just the caked on blood staining her tunic, or the viscera of her enemies, fresh blood, still being pumped out by her heart. 

Arleena felt herself sink even further, her blood oozing its way out of her as her heart was squeezed dry. It was like that feeling of having someone reach inside you with their words and wrench your heart inside of your body, but a hundredfold, and it was real. 

Her heart wasn’t being squeezed inside of her chest, she could feel it, she could see it being squeezed. She was literally wearing her heart on her sleeve, she held her heart in her hand. She watched the blood ooze onto her already grey skin, seeping out into the palm of her hand as she squeezed it. 

_ This isn’t real.  _ It was the only conclusion she could come to, even if it was wrong. “This isn’t real.”

It was almost terrifying how calm and restrained her voice was, watching her staring at her own lungs and guts hanging out of her gashed open chest. It was spectacularly morbid, just the sight that a fierce warrior could only hope that their victims would get to see of themselves once they’ve been so thoroughly crushed under the foot of their betters, or gashed open by the sword of their superiors. But this was  **real** .

Cerilla found herself strangely transfixed on the girl’s chest, just as she seemed to be, in awe at the crushing sense of horror and defeat on the elf’s face. It would be a dream come true for any honorable hobgoblin, to get to watch their enemie’s stare down at their own corpse, coming to grips with the reality of their own defeat. But it was an honor that belonged not to her, but to her master. 

“Please… tell me this isn’t real…” Arleena finally looked up at them, she needed this to be a dream, or an illusion, or a hallucination, it had to be. It didn’t matter who the words came from, she just needed  **someone** to tell her that this wasn’t real, she needed there to be some sort of consensus that what was happening to her was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare, wherever it was that she had just been, whatever world she had just escaped from, it had to be a nightmare.

But it wasn’t, and the silence that followed was louder than any scream that she could have hoped to make with her empty lungs. 

“Why?” It was the only word that her lips could make.

“Why what?” The wendigo approached, bearing down on her with her fearsome eyes hidden behind her ferocious mask. The eyes of her predator, a light which she could only think to extinguish. 

But no matter how strong her convictions were, how intense her desire to destroy the monster where she stood, she knew she lacked the strength to do so. Her willpower paled in comparison to her fear, knowing how desperately she lacked the courage to stand up to her. 

Arleena had a hunger about her now, an insatiable desire to put the wendigo down right here and now, but in the face of what she had become, it was a thought secondary to the fear of finding herself on the end of the wendigo’s claws once again. “Please don’t kill me…”

“So the dolly has a brain.” Eia smiled. “Enough of one to know that she should be scared of me.”

Arleena stared blankly for a few moments, lacking the ability to think of anything aside from how scared she was in that moment.

Eia could see in her eyes how badly she wanted to get out of this, and like the cruel monster she was, decided to play with her, taking the sword that the elf had tried to drive through her chest and holding it out in front of the girl. “Does she want her toy back?”

Arleena’s voice was raspy and full of breaths, wordless as she looked up at the imposing wendigo with awe, slowly extending her hand toward her sword. 

Her once elegant movements were sloppy and sluggish, barely getting halfway from her sword before Eia pulled it away, leaving the zombie there on her knees, her hand still extended towards the wendigo. 

Arleena gasped, her heart almost literally splitting in two with fear as she saw her hand in the palm of the wendigo’s paw, feeling the monster tenderly take her extended hand before she realized that the sword had been pulled away. 

“You… you killed me…” Arleena wanted to retract her hand, but she found herself unable to do so.

Eia just held her hand there, trying not to squeeze the life out of her. “I can be gentle… See?”

“But… why?”

“I wasn’t the one who came swinging a sword at you, was I?”

“No.” Arleena lowered her head in shame. “But you’re a monster.”

“Is that why you decided to attack me?” Eia asked. “Because I’m a monster?”

Arleena swallowed her anger, her ability to process her own thoughts greatly hindered by her new condition. “I wanted to protect my sister…”

“Do you hear that Cerilla?” The sight of a zombie mindlessly rambling on would disturb a normal person, but Eia found the thought simply adorable. “She just wanted to protect her sister.” The wendigo stood up and smiled, finally letting go of Arleena’s hand. “Well, at least you succeeded in that regard~”

“I-” Arleena froze, remembering her last words to Eiranee, feeling the tears on her cheeks before she knew that they had formed her. “I need my sister…”

“I think what you need right now is to be put back together… you’re stuffing’s falling out, doll.” Eia grinned, removing her mask from her face and handing it off to Cerilla before kneeling in front of the zombie, examining the body parts just hanging out of her, bleeding onto the ground at her feet. “What do you say… does dolly want to be put back together?”

“Back together?” Arleena looked up at her and frowned, taking in the details of her face, big and small. “I want… to kill you.”

“I’m sure you do.” Eia gestured towards Cerilla. “My slave has been trying to kill me for two years now~” The wendigo was making a joke at the former general’s expense, as well as warning her against trying it again. “And what better way to do it than to serve as my slave?”

_ Hobgoblin.  _ Arleena had noticed the hobgoblin of course, but she had only been able to focus on the bigger threat, which at the moment seemed to be the wendigo. “Is she your slave?”

“Would you like to be my slave too?” Arleena actually smiled as she saw Eia nod her head, before frowning upon being asked Eia’s next question. “I can help put you back together… but only if you can agree to become my slave.”

Arleena sat there quietly, thinking it through for a second. What other options did she have? Dying? Letting her insides fall out? Running away and losing track of the person she wanted to kill? 

“You’ll put me back together?”

“If you agree to be my slave.”

“You won’t kill me?”

“Not if you say yes.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then I’ll let your pretty little body fall apart.”

“But you won’t kill me?”

“Who else would do the dismembering, doll?”

“Will I get to kill you?” 

“You can certainly try~”

“Will I get to see my sister again?”

“No… but you’ll have new sisters.”

“Will they help me kill you?”

“You’d have to ask them~”

“What happens to them after you die?”

“Well… that means they’d be free, so that’s up to them~”

“What happens to…  **me** after you die?”

“I don’t think you’ll like the answer to that question.” Eia enjoyed seeing the gears in her head kick back into action, her responses and line of thinking slowly getting faster as she continued to talk. But that enjoyment couldn’t stop her mouth from curling into a frown at the dead elf’s final question. “Now let’s stitch my new dolly back together, shall we?” 

While answering her questions was fun, the wendigo didn’t much care whether she wanted to become a slave or not, offering her the choice was just smoke and mirrors, a clever trick to make her think she had any free will as she was slowly pulled into the monster’s lap, holding the animated corpse close to her and getting to work on putting her back together.

If the little elf zombie perceived this as Eia going through on her promises, rather than her patching the girl back together on a whim just so that she could tear her apart later, the girl might trust her new master more readily, and that made it that much more likely that she could keep her wrapped around her finger. 

“I placed the censoring stones like you asked, Master.” By the time Cerilla had finished scouting the area and setting a perimeter, Eia was just about done fixing the dolly she had accidentally broken. “I take it we’ll be camping here tonight?”

“A safe assumption.” Eia nodded, pointing Cerilla off in the forest to get lost. “Go get your sisters and bring them here, Master would like a moment with the new girl~”

“Master…” Arleena repeated the word out loud, like a child hearing it for the first time. “Is that what they call you…” Her cheeks grew flustered, registering the horror of it. “Are you… not a woman?”

“Of course I’m a woman!” Eia scoffed, tugging on the rope still tied around the girl’s neck. “Do I not look like one?”

“I’ve never heard that word to refer to a woman before…” Arleena had tears in her eyes. “Master…” 

“Words are just words, Arleena.” Eia smiled, pulling the wraith into her chest, running one finger along the elf’s fresh stitches, tracing her way down to Arleena’s cunt. “Feelings are a lot more powerful, don’t you think?”

“You can’t do this…” Arleena felt like sludge, even despite her disfigurement, just the thought of going through with this disgusted her, especially once Eia’s fingers were at the quivering gates of her cold dead quim. “This is wrong…”

“I’ll decide what I do to you, doll.” Eia pressed her finger inside of her, watching the girl’s chest convulse as her pounding heart threatened to claw through the seams of her flesh, her chest having been stitched back together. “Do as I say and I’ll make you the prettiest wraith in the world. But disobey me, and I’ll send you right back to hell~”

Arleena winced, cowering in the wendigo’s lap in a futile attempt to escape her snarl. “U-understood…”

“That’s not what we say, doll.” Eia gently nibbled on the elf’s pointed ear, watching her squirm with delight. “I want to hear  _ Yes, Master. _ ”

“Yes, Master!!” Arleena shrieked with pain as she felt the wendigo clawing at her insides, pressing her way up her zombified cunt, it was damn right necrophilic, but deep down the shame delighted her. 

Arleena was too ashamed to admit to this being her first time, getting raped in the woods by a wendigo after getting turned inside-out, but even without the blood seeping from her delicate little flower, Eia could tell.

“It’s a bit pathetic, don’t you think?” Eia whispered sweet torments into her sensitive little elf ears. “Dolly died a little virgin girl, didn’t she~?”

Arleena’s spine tingled, arching her back against the wendigo’s chest, her whole body trembling. “Shut up…”

Before Arleena could even shut her own mouth, the wendigo was doing it for her, sliding three whole fingers of her left hand into the poor girl’s mouth, and along with them three large metal rings, threatening to rip her jaw from her head. 

“Listen close doll, because I don’t give this opportunity to most girls I meet, only the  **special** ones.” Eia waited for Arleena to nod her head before continuing. “Normally when I hunt, my prey stays dead, but don’t think yourself special just for popping back to life… I could behead you here and now, and doing otherwise is a mercy.” Eia licked her lips, listening to Arleena’s delicious whimpers as she felt Eia pull her hand from her cunt.

“My mercy and affection comes at a cost, and that cost is your devotion.” Arleena heard the wendigo snarl at her, and a moment later she realized where Eia’s other hand had gone, as she suddenly felt the wendigo pressing a sword to her throat. “So here’s what’s going to happen~”

“You, my little doll, are going to give me another pretty little ring to adorn myself with, and you’re going to do it by popping your deliciously pulsating little cherry on my finger.” Eia felt Arleena’s breath escaping through her fingers as she gasped, her hands still in the elf’s mouth. “And once I’ve taken your virginity from you, I will clasp a gorgeous little collar around your throat, and take everything else you have to offer me, and I will own every part of you~”

“ _ Mhmmph!! Mmmhhmmmph!! _ ” Arleena was crying now, desperately murmuring her agreement out of sheer terror, begging for anything but death. 

“Then, once I’m done with my fun, and you’re too ashamed to ever face your family again, you’ll serve me, eagerly and obediently, as my slave.” Eia pulled the blade from the girl’s throat, hearing her calm down ever so slightly. “The price of admission is your submission~”

Arleena gasped for breath, feeling Eia’s fingers finally leaving her mouth, her eyes darting back at the wendigo behind her in terror. “And then?”

“And then I’m sure you’ll be a very good girl, and serve me well… unless you want to die again that is.” Eia showed the blade of her sword to the girl, basking in the smell of the girl’s fear, moving it back towards her throat ever so slightly. “Be my knight and protect me at all costs, because once I die, you’ll die too. So unless you’re ready to die, you’ll protect me.”

“You’re always welcome to raise your blade against me, but if I catch you doing so to any of my brides, I won’t hesitate to put you down first.” Eia grinned. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, Master…” Arleena gritted her teeth, face flushed with a revolting feeling of shame as she spread her legs for the wendigo, leaving herself vulnerable for Eia to do her worst. “Please, Ma’am…”

“Please what, my little doll?”

“Please take me, Ma’am… please…”

“This is your last chance to take the easy way out, doll… because once I take what’s mine, I never give it back~”

“Yes, Ma’am… I know…”

“So what’s it going to be?”

“Take what you want, Eia… you can have me.”

“Good girl~” Eia tossed the sword aside, letting in clatter on the ground as she finally pressed one finger into the girl’s tight little cunt, listening to the happy little murmurs of her newest slave giving herself over to her. “Mark my words, I’ll make sure that this second life is one worth living for you~”

↞✶↠

Cerilla’s dagger clattered to the ground after just a couple clashes against her foe’s sword. 

The former hobgoblin general no longer had her own beloved sword, Vaiyre, nor did she have Arleena’s, and without the few daggers strapped to her belt, she would have to rely on her martial skills and her shield. 

But that wasn’t the end of the world, she knew Nightingale, and as such she had a few clever tricks up her sleeves for dealing with her, she just needed to get close. 

“On the back foot already, general?” Zawdra was proving herself a brilliant fighter with her sword, and it made Cerilla regret never putting her into battle under her command when she could. 

“That’s one way to put it, I suppose.” Cerilla held up her left arm, blocking her opponent’s oncoming sword strike with her shield, before lashing out at her with her claws, sending the gargoyle stumbling backwards for a few steps. “My biggest regret is never putting you in my ranks all those years ago~”

“Funny-” Zawdra flapped her wings, bringing herself a few feet into the air before bringing her sword down on the hobgoblin’s shield. “I would have thought your biggest regret would be losing the war and letting yourself become a slave~”

“Oh, on the contrary my dear, I’m doing pretty well for myself.” Cerilla slid across the ground as the gargoyle came back down, finding herself behind Nightingale and bashing her with fist as she landed. “After all, I might not have lost the war if I had you under my foot~”

“Well it’s just too bad that you’ll never be able to have that, then.” Zawdra picked herself back up and retreated a few feet away from the hobgoblin, stepping backwards into an alley, away from the moonlit streets of the village’s night. 

“Not unless you’re willing to give that to me, that is.” Cerilla stopped, putting her shield away and holding her hands out for the gargoyle to see she was unarmed. 

This whole affair was Zawdra’s idea, and they both knew it, if she wanted Eia to agree to not leveling the village, brandishing a sword against the den mother was not the way to do it, even if she had repressed and hostile feelings towards her. 

Nightingale paused, watching the hobgoblin make her way into the alley bare-handed, holding her sword to the side for a moment, but still ready to strike if she needed to. 

Cerilla sighed as soon as she saw the first pulse of glowing red light from the charm affixed to her collar, knowing that she needed to stop here before she got too emotional, because once that happened, her mind was in for one hell of a trance. 

“I don’t want to fight.” Cerilla stepped into the darkness of the alleyway, following behind the gargoyle, making sure no one was around to see either of them before being able to swallow her pride and put herself down on her knees in front of Zawdra. “I’m just doing as my master tells me…”

“How can I know that?” Zawdra bit her lip, her normally steady hands trembling, still not ready to put her blade away. “How do I know you’re not still working for  **them** ?”

“For Najistaire you mean?” Cerilla folded her hands behind her back, tilting her gaze to the ground below to show respect, trying not to think about her home. “For my mother… you mean?”

“Akziel the abuser…” Zawdra nodded, finally putting her sword back in its sheath, but still refusing to take her hand off of the handle. “How do I know that you’re loyal to Madaerie… and that you’re not still Cerilla the crucifier?”

“What would it take to convince you of such?” Cerilla looked back up at her. “Look, I know I’ve been prancing about and bossing you around like I own you for the last couple of days, but I don’t… and neither does Cinna.”

Zawdra had to stop for a moment, hearing that name brought her grief everytime it entered her brain. Cerilla was right, Nightingale  **had** been a slave, not the general’s slave, but one of her officer’s.

Cinna the sinner was what they called her, and though she wasn’t quite as accomplished as her commanding officer was, she had done enough to earn herself a title, despite not being a Najistrae. 

The greatest honor in the world for hobgoblins, aside from becoming the emperor, is to earn the name  _ Najistrae _ , and become an official member of the royal family, a child of the reigning monarch. But another great honor was found in serving as lieutenant to one of those aforementioned royals, and Cinna was her general’s right hand. 

The kind of devotion to which she served Cerilla could have almost been mistaken as being her general’s slave, if it weren’t for the fact that hobgoblin slaves were unheard of in Najistaire, and for good reason. 

Slavery in Najistaire was a double edged sword in many ways. It was not only legal, but required of many races. Yet it was completely disallowed for a subset of other races, which were legally unable to be enslaved, a product of their religious standards.

Zawdra never expected to see a hobgoblin on her knees like this, but here it was. The charm around her collar glowed once again, drawing all eyes to the metal band around her neck, a symbol of ownership and suppression.

“Does this look like the face of someone who believes herself a crucifier?” Cerilla’s cheeks were flushed with anger and humiliation, she didn’t like it, but it was true. “You’re not the slave here Nightingale, I am.”

“That may be true, but…” Zawdra finally took her hand off of the handle of her blade, putting her hand on her hip. “I still don’t see your point.”

Cerilla grinned, leaping back up to her feet as soon as Zawdra’s guard was down, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. 

Zawdra’s hand darted back to her sword, but before she could grab it, Cerilla seized upon the opportunity, using one of the dirty tricks she kept hidden up her sleeve just for the gargoyle.

Seeing the former general’s open palm about to strike her made Zawdra flinch, the sight of a hobgoblin’s hand giving her brief relapses of her time as one of their slaves. 

Cerilla curled her hand into a fist and slammed it into Zawdra’s face, sending her plummeting to the ground below, collapsing onto her knees. 

She took the other knife from her waist, landing directly on top of the gargoyle and pinning her down on her stomach, about ready to send the blade into her back. 

Zawdra clenched her eyes and her jaw shut, bracing for the feeling of having a knife sent through her. But after a moment of nothing happened, she opened her eyes again, looking back and seeing the hobgoblin on her knees on top of her, blade in hand and tears in her eyes, the charm on her collar glowing with a bright red light that refused to go away. 

“See… I could overpower and kill you if I wanted to… but I don’t…” Cerilla slid off of her back, kneeling next to the gargoyle as she pushed herself back up, holding out the knife for Zawdra to take, which she did. 

“I’m sorry…” Cerilla’s brain was all fuzzy, her charm having completely kicked in and taking her out of commission, putting her into a minor hypnotic trance. “I’m not who I used to be, I promise…”

Zawdra sat up, swiping the dagger from the girl’s hand, unsure of what exactly was happening to her, but nevertheless taking a deep breath and scolding the hobgoblin. “Why shouldn’t I kill you right here and now, slave?”

“Because I’m just following my master’s orders, Ma’am.” Cerilla adjusted her gaze, staring down at her own knees to make herself vulnerable. “My master told me to find the gnome, so I found the gnome…”

“Did you come with rope to tie her up, then?” The gargoyle snarled. “Because if so, give it to me.”

The hobgoblin groaned but nodded, reaching for her bag and retrieving rope to give to Zawdra. “You’re not getting Alistora back…” 

“And why not?” Zawdra continued to scold the wendigo’s slave. “I have you, don’t I? Why shouldn’t I be able to make a trade?”

“Because she has the Hollow’s Heart.” Cerilla grinded her teeth together, taking notice of the difference between her fangs and her nubs. “She can and will kill you all if you don’t bow down to her…”

“Is that what she wants, then… to make us all bow down to her?”

“What else would she be after? She can protect you all, but only for a price… and that price is reverence…”

“She wants to  **rule** us… like an empress?”

“And why shouldn’t she… she’s the superior creature after all…”

“That’s enough out of you.” Zawdra sighed as she finished tying the hobgoblin’s wrists together behind her back.

“Yes, Ma’am…” Cerilla complied, making herself easier to handle by following Zawdra’s movements. 

“Your master can have you when she comes to pick you up.” Zawdra shoved the hobgoblin forward, sending her back out into the street. “Until then, you’re mine… and I think seeing a hobgoblin soldier all tied up and out on the streets might do some good for my citizens.”

Cerilla whined but complied, not at all eager to be shown off like some war trophy to a village of common folk, but unable to argue against it either way.

↞✶↠

“I don’t understand.” The dryad swallowed, staring down the length of Arleena’s arm, nervously excited to finally have the glyph activated again. “What happened last night?”

“I couldn’t sleep, alright?” Arleena scoffed, her cheeks flushed with anger. “Not while you were with us. “I didn’t feel safe.”

“I’m sorry, Arleena. I didn’t mean to keep you up, I was just doing as I was told.” Alistora’s heart was beating excitedly in her chest, her body ready to have a little bit of fun, but her head was ringing with shame. “I want you to feel safe around me.” 

“How am I meant to feel safe around you?” Arleena’s foot thudded against the ground beside Brinia’s thigh, posed to strike her down with her sword. “I saw what you tried to do last night, I saw you trying to kill her-” 

“And you didn’t say anything?” Brinia snapped back, shouting at her. Things would have gone differently if she would have said something then and there, if she had spoken to the dryad when she stirred. Brinia wished that she had gotten someone to stop her sooner than she had to stop herself. “Why didn’t you stop me?” 

“Because you stole my sword from me, how was I supposed to fight without a weapon?”

“We didn’t need to fight, Arleena. You could have just spoken to me.”

“Oh yeah, mend the rift or whatever.” Arleena’s hand was twitching, overeager to get on with things. “I’ll make sure to let you know I’m watching next time, that way you’ll know to kill all the witnesses too.” 

“I didn’t kill her, Arleena!!” Brinia protested, clasping Arleena’s extended hand with hers, keeping one fist curled around her weapon in case the wraith attacked. “I could have killed her in her sleep, but I didn’t, just like I didn’t kill you the first time we fought. I don’t want either of you to die.” 

“Oh really?” Arleena swiped her hand away, pointing out into the forest behind her with her free hand. “Because you sure don’t seem to care whether she’s been eaten by a forty foot titan, now do you?” 

“I don’t know, Arleena!! I don’t know what the best way forward is!!” Brinia curled her now empty hand into a fist, briefly pounding her knuckles into the soil below. “I know you love her, but I don’t want to be in this situation!! I want to be sisters just as little as you do!!” 

“If you don’t care about me or any of my sisters, then why don’t you take your pretty little staff and run away?? Go ahead, do it right now. She might never find you!!” 

“If she doesn’t hunt me down and kill me first, she’ll kill the entire village!!”

“So what, you care about them but you don’t care about us?” 

“ **That’s not what I meant!!** ” Brinia practically screamed, her voice echoing through the woods, oddly silent just in that moment, the sounds of the swamp golem off in the distance having subsided. “You’re not making a cohesive argument, Arleena. You’re just angry!! I know you’re angry, and I get it, okay?? I would hate me too. But this isn’t about  **me** , this has never been about  **me** , it’s about  **them** .”

“The villagers…” Arleena snarled, hands trembling. “Do we not count as villagers anymore?” 

“Eia would never choose to kill you, Arleena. You don’t need my protection like they do.” Brinia whined, reaching out towards the other girl and grabbing her by the wrist, holding her hand close. “I am never going to choose to kill you, Arleena. I promise.”

“And Eia would never choose to kill  **you** , either.” Arleena’s fingers magically interlocked with Brinia’s, holding her hand tight. “Even if she caught you trying to kill her, she would just choose to off some random villager, or maybe even several, but she wouldn’t choose to kill you.” 

“Is that why you didn’t say anything?” Brinia’s heart fluttered just a little bit, smiling up at the wraith. “You didn’t want her to kill anyone?” 

“I wouldn’t say  **anyone** . The people don’t deserve to die, but you do.” Arleena’s fingers slipped away from Brinia’s hand, making their way back to the dim grey glyph that decorated the dryad’s collarbone. “Eia won’t kill you, but I will.” 

“Do you have any idea what she’ll do to you if you kill me, Arleena?” 

“I’ll get punished, I know that… I’m not  **special** like you are. You can get away with attacking her brides, but I can’t. She told me as much the night she claimed me, raise my blade against any of her brides and she’ll kill me… it’s not fair, but if that’s my master’s will…” Arleena swallowed nervously, the tip of her strangely numb fingers running over the texture of the dryad’s plantlike skin, choking up on her own thoughts as they crawled around inside of her throat like spiders. “Well then that’s my master’s will… and I’ll obey her wishes.” 

“But  **this** isn’t your master’s will, Arleena. Killing me isn’t your master’s will.” Brinia pushed aside the selfish excitement coming from between her loins, focusing on the wraith instead of herself. “Don’t you remember what your master said- she wants me alive.” 

“And she also told us not to tear apart or permanently alter you, but that hasn’t stopped anyone, has it?” Arleena took the tip of her blade and stabbed it into the ground beside her, reaching into her blouse to retrieve a small little trinket as she gently tugged Brinia’s bottom lip open with her other hand. “This is yours, isn’t it?” 

Brinia’s tongue ran over the empty spot where her sharpest fang once was before she had gotten it ripped from her mouth by the snake lady just a few nights prior. It was a tooth, Brinia’s tooth, in Arleena’s hand. “Where did you get that?” 

“Tishula gave it to me as a keepsake.” She closed her hand around it, putting it away before pulling her sword back out of the ground. “Thought it’d help make me feel better.” 

“But that’s a tooth, not my life!!” Brinia yanked her face away from Arleena’s other hand. “They’re not comparable.” 

“I get  **one** , okay?” Hand on the glyph one final time, the wraith pointed the blade at the dryad. “We all get one shot at you, and this is mine. She told me I could do anything I want to you, because this-” Arleena tapped on the glyph with her finger. “This was all for me.” 

“So you’re going to kill me.” Brinia swallowed nervously, unable to forget the feeling of the empty spot where her tooth once was. “All because I tried to kill you.” 

“It doesn’t matter that you tried to kill me. I don’t care about myself, okay?” Arleena's grip tightened around the handle of her sword. “You tried to kill  **her** . I’m her knight. I exist to protect her… even if it kills me. I’m doing this to protect the people I love.” 

“I can’t talk you down from this.”

“You can’t talk me down from this.”

“Arleena.” Brinia swallowed nervously, listening to the command phrase in her head on loop. “No…”

“Don’t give me that, dryad. You don’t have the right to say no.” Arleena shouted at her, watching Brinia’s grip on the staff tighten immensely. “I want a rematch, and you’re going to fight me whether you like it or not…”

“I-” Brinia stopped herself. She couldn’t argue, and she knew she couldn’t argue. All she could do was say the words. “If a fight is what you want, then a fight is what you’ll get. If you truly wish to send me to the grave… then I’d be glad to give you a rematch…”

The glyph activated, turning on with an eerie grey glow, sending shivers up and down Brinia’s body and soul. 

She was right, the dryad didn’t have the right to say no… she was going to do exactly as she was told, even if it killed her. 

“If you want me dead, then you’re going to have to earn it.”

Brinia could have just offered Arleena the chance to take her life there on the spot, but she could tell deep down that wasn’t what Arleena wanted. 

Arleena just wanted to prove herself. 

The wraith pointed her blade at the dryad, the lightless steel of the sword serving as an unworthy replacement to her beloved Montemaster. 

Alistora stood up, pulling her staff from her hip and readying herself to block Arleena’s blade, her fingers trembling nervously at the thought of having to fight the wraith again, without her magic. 

From just the first strike it was painfully obvious who was going to win this fight, and the both of them knew it. Brinia may have been pretty good with her staff, but Arleena had a fire in her eyes that wasn’t about to let itself be extinguished. 

Brinia held her staff with both hands, continually blocking blows as the wraith assaulted her with a heavy onslaught of sword swings. Not for a moment was Brinia advancing on Arleena’s position, never once did she have the opportunity to get in a riposte, the wraith was too determined to mow her down to give her even just an inch. 

_ I know they said the best offense is a good defense.  _ Brinia struggled to even form coherent thoughts in her head as she put all of her effort into keeping herself from being hacked to pieces by the elegant and quick dark elf.  _ But I could really use some help right now… _

**_And what am I supposed to do about that?_ **

_ I don’t know!! Anything?! _

**_You’re going to get in so much trouble if we do this._ **

_ And she’s going to kill me if we don’t, just do it!! _

**_Eugh… Fine…_ **

It was almost like the woman’s voice in her head snarled at her as she spoke, she didn’t really want to do this, but she definitely didn’t want Alistora to die. 

Arleena swung her sword overhead, bringing it down over Brinia as she held the staff out above her to block it with her staff, but this time the staff began to glow. 

The wraith’s eyes widened with fear as she saw it, gritting her teeth in anger and growling at the dryad as the ground suddenly began to shake, the glowing aura of the Hollow’s Heart erupting into a huge shockwave, sending the two women hurling away from one another. 

**_There, happy?_ **

_ Immensely…  _ Brinia smiled, twirling her staff in her hand as she leapt back up to her feet, pointing the Hollow’s Heart across the clearing, straight at Arleena.  _ Thank you…  _

**_That’s your one for today, don’t expect any more of my help getting yourself out of this._ **

_ Don’t worry about me.  _ Brinia jumped back into action, sprinting across the clearing and swinging the staff at Arleena, forcing the wraith to block it with her sword. _ I don’t think I’m going to need it~ _

**_Just don’t break me, please… I’m not sure I can survive being cut in two…_ **

_ I’ll be careful, I promise~  _

Brinia wasn’t sure what she was doing all of a sudden. She wasn’t about to let Arleena kill her, but she also wasn’t really out to win, and it was painfully obvious as the two of them kept going that Arleena was. 

The dryad struck the first blow, slipping past Arleena’s defenses and smacking the head of her staff into the girl’s chest, knocking the wind from her lungs. 

But it didn’t feel good. This wasn’t what the glyphs were supposed to be for, were they?

If this was how it was supposed to be used, then why wasn’t the magic of it filling Brinia’s body with joy and pleasure?

There was something wrong here, Arleena couldn’t see that… but maybe she could feel it?

The fire in Arleena’s eyes told a tale of how fiercely she wanted to strike Brinia dead here and now, but the heat in her blushing face told a different story. The dryad wasn’t the only one put into heat by the magic of her own charm, her sisters were too. 

Eia had stolen her magic away from her, but the dryad’s connection with her staff always had a way to help her when she needed it most- and this was one such moment. It filled her with a sort of energy, rejuvenating her strength and her stamina as she wielded it. She may not have been able to tap into the endless well of its magical power, but at least she was able to get strength from the Hollow’s Heart. 

But what was any of that strength good for… Brinia vowed to rid the world of monsters, but she didn’t know who the monster’s were anymore.

Arleena scurried backwards like a scared puppy once she was struck, still scarred by her last fight with the dryad. Brinia’s eyes met the other woman’s, faced with the fury of someone who had lost something dear to them- and Brinia understood exactly what had been taken from her.

“This isn’t about Eia, is it? This isn’t even about the sword… This is about the baby-” 

“Of course this is about the baby!! They might be monsters to you, but that was  **my** baby you killed!!” The enemy stood opposed to Brinia, her sword at the ready and posed to strike at any moment. “She’s still a part of me, Alistora… she’s still in here!!”

Arleena pressed her palm to her belly, holding it there, purposefully defenseless. “She might not have lived, she might have been cooked and eaten once she was born, but that should have been my right to decide… but apparently I’m just that weak. I’m just that  **useless** .” 

The wraith squared off with her feet, positioning to execute a vertical down swipe before stepping forward and hurling her weapon straight towards the dryad, soaring across the clearing like a spear. 

Alistora dropped to the ground with a swift roll, dodging beneath the blade as it zoomed towards her. The sword whizzed past Brinia’s head, stabbing itself into one of the trees littering the forest behind her, and with it went Arleena’s strength. 

“I couldn’t even protect an infant that’s inside of me!! I don’t want to die, but I can’t even fulfill my one purpose!! I’m meant to be her knight, but I’m  **useless** to her!! She has no need for me if I can’t even protect our babies!!” 

Tossing her weapon at Brinia and effectively disarming herself likely wasn’t the best move for Arleena to make, but she wasn’t being reasonable, she was having a meltdown.

“Nobody looks up to me like they look up to you, and I am sick of always being the baby, and never getting the chance to be the mom. I have people and things that I want to protect too, and I am going to do exactly that. I’m going to protect them from you.” 

“From me…” Brinia swallowed nervously, the roughness of the staff coarse against the soft skin of her hands, callouses erased to make room for deferent weakness, vulnerability. “I’m the monster.” 

It didn’t matter that Brinia had chosen not to kill Eia, or that she’d chosen not to kill Eia. She already had blood on her hands. She couldn’t go back and change that. 

She ran her fingers over the sharp edges and spines, malevolent growths blooming out of the skin of her magic staff. They weren’t teeth, they were thorns- defense mechanisms. The heart wasn’t growing more monstrous, it was growing more withdrawn- less welcoming, closing itself off to connection. 

She held the staff out in front of her, dropping it like a child letting go of her mother’s hand.

They were both disarmed, it was time to stop, and hopefully the wraith saw that. 

She expected it to end there. She needed it to end there. She could not keep fighting Arleena. This was all her fault, and she realized that now. There was no way to fight fairly with the other girl, not without killing her. Arleena wanted to fight to the death, and even though Brinia’s glyph was supposed to help her get her revenge, the dryad was unable to give her that. 

Through the sounds of their footsteps running towards each other, the forest was eerily silent. It was intimate now, both women unarmed as they fought, their movements rhythmic, leading to some sort of conclusion- a final flourish not unlike a climax.

The sound of impact was dull and thuddy as Arleena struck the dryad in the chest with her palm, before knuckles met knuckles and a blow from Brinia was met head on by the wraith’s fist. Brinia had no bark on her skin, she had no thorns- she was soft and vulnerable, deliberately so. 

She was so confident that she knew the world around her, but she didn’t, and in that she was much like a child. Not everyone fought for themselves, and she should know. She wasn’t the only one worthy of calling herself a protector. 

Arleena kept going and Brinia kept taking hits, as the wraith woman thumped her with her fists, using her like a dummy, pounding her body in much the same places as the dryad had injured her. She made the other woman into a doll to illuminate where she herself had been violated, determined to take Alistora all the way down to the ground. 

Once her fists had taken enough, Arleena had to find new ways to keep going. She slid her foot beneath Brinia’s staff, kicking it into the air and catching it in both hands.

Brinia ducked, just barely dodging out of the way of her own staff being swung directly at her head, trying to swipe it clean off of her shoulders. “Arleena stop!!” 

“Shut up and fight back!!” Arleena swung the Hollow’s Heart downwards, watching angrily as the quick and nimble dryad spun out of the way, dodging around the blow and striking Arleena in the side of the head with her open palm, unwilling to curl her fists against the wraith again. 

“I don’t want to fight anymore-” Brinia stumbled backwards a few feet, trying to get just a little bit of distance from her while she swung the oversized bludgeon at her. “Can we please stop and talk this out?”

“We can talk this out once you’ve come back to life to kill me.” Arleena stopped, pushing two fingers into her mouth and whistling loudly, not for Eia, but for Hawkney. 

The cockatrice came in hot, swinging at the dryad with his wings, having waited in the winds for Arleena to call for him. He crashed into her, quickly knocking Brinia to the ground in front of him. 

Brinia quickly shot off the ground, clamoring to sit up before Arleena had the chance to slam the staff through her head, spearing it into the ground instead. 

Arleena really wasn’t playing around, and Brinia couldn’t afford to play around either. Like a pole dancer, she twisted around the staff as it remained stuck in the ground, the wraith unable to quickly free it from the earth as the dryad spun around it like a skilled stripper. 

She vaulted over the pole, doing a quick handstand atop of it before slamming down onto the other side, using the heightened elevation to land on top of Arleena.

The dryad could help but let out a soft murmur, feeling a tingle climb up her spin as her exposed cunt slammed into the back of Arleena’s neck, wrapping her legs around the wraith throat, slowly choking her. 

Arleena snarled, grabbing at Brinia’s thighs and beginning to struggle against them, trying to pry her off. Once the wraith’s attention was completely on her, Brinia leaned forward, and with her increased strength, she yanked the staff from the ground. 

“Fetch!!” Alistora shouted loudly, tossing the Hollow’s Heart into the woods across from her, watching the cockatrice excitedly turn around and chase after it, effectively getting out of her hair for now. 

“You bitch.” Arleena groaned, falling onto her hands and knees, Brinia’s legs still wrapped around her neck from behind. 

“Yeah, what’s it to you?” Brinia grinned, taking the opportunity to grind against the girl just slightly, letting her libido get the best of her. 

Arleena just growled, grabbing at Brinia’s thighs with her sharp nails and digging in, forcing a desperate squeal from the dryad’s lips as her sensitive thighs were squeezed. 

Alistora’s thighs loosened just enough to allow the wraith to slip back out, trying not to overstimulate her. So she briefly crawled away before slamming into the dryad, taking her back down to the ground, flipping her onto her back with Arleena on top this time. 

Brinia’s face flushed with embarrassment, surprised to find herself pinned beneath her sister for the first time, and it didn’t stop there. 

The dryad couldn’t do anything but let out a helpless moan, the magical charm taking over with pleasure as Arleena tore through Brinia’s dress, digging her clawed fingers into the girl’s chest and squeezing both of her tits, seemingly without realizing that was what she was doing. 

Arleena’s gasp was just as loud as her sister’s moan as she snapped out of it, pulling her hands from the dryad’s tits, her face almost bleeding out with how hard she was blushing. 

And Brinia took advantage of this, slipping her hands between her and her sister and placing them onto Arleena’s chest, pushing the wraith onto her back instead. 

Unlike Brinia, Arleena wasn’t going to let herself get pushed over without a fight, and before Brinia could even do anything with the girl’s chest, she had to grab the wraith by her wrists and hold them down, feeling Arleena lift one of her knees up to block the dryad’s crotch from being able to reach hers. 

She kneed Alistora in the crotch, pressing her lower leg into the dryad’s wet cunt, feeling her quickly begin to grind against it with all of her might. The two girls stared at each other, awkwardly clenching their teeth together as the dryad seemingly continued to hump the wraith’s leg as she kept Arleena pinned down. 

She was beginning to get into a rhythm too, the pleasure of her magical charm slowly but surely bubbling up, causing her brain to tingle and her fingers to tremble, easy to respond to any stimulation at all. 

Arleena just grinned, angrily staring into the dryad’s eyes as she lied there on her back. “Good boy~” 

Alistora murmured in confusion, stopping for just a moment to process the other girl’s words before realizing who the wraith was talking to. 

Hawkney quickly approached the two girls, staff in his mouth as he fetched it for them. Anticipating a blow from behind, Brinia grabbed herself with her arms, protecting her head from behind while leaving herself open from the front. 

Arleena’s knuckles slammed square against the dryad’s leafy face, knocking the other girl clear off of her and back onto the ground beside her, still protecting the back of her head, face still down. 

“Tch.” Arleena shot up, grabbing the staff from Hawkney’s mouth and swinging down at the dryad, crouching on the ground until the exact moment that the staff would have smacked her on the head, prompting a fierce growl from her opponent. 

From in front of Arleena’s feet, Brinia grabbed a hold of the sheath strapped to the wraith’s waist, using it to block another round of blows from her sister, still wielding the Hollow’s Heart against her. 

Angry at watching the sheath to her sword getting bent and almost broken in half, Arleena growled, backing up several steps, trying to find a new opening. 

Alistora grinned, staring down at the weapon clenching in Arleena’s hands. 

She was hungry for the girl, she wanted Arleena beneath her and she was going to do what it took to get her there. If Arleena wasn’t going to fuck the dryad, then Alistora was going to fuck her. 

And without even thinking about it, the Hollow’s Heart responded to Brinia’s wishes, beginning to glow white before flashing a bright luminous glow, illuminating the entire clearing for a second before clattering to the ground. 

“Oww!!” Arleena squealed loudly, her skin suddenly burning as the blinding light and radiant fire enveloped her, coating her hands in arms in a sickening light that stung through to her core. 

Filled to the brim with selfish excitement, Brinia lunged forward, not at the staff but at Arleena. From still below her, the dryad reached for the wraith’s crotch, grabbing it with one hand and planting the other on Arleena’s chest to once again slam her back onto the ground below, but this time for good. 

Arleena’s arms lied beside her head, burning with pain and unable to move as Brinia hungrily tore away at her clothes, squeezing her elven cunt in her hand as she pushed the smaller girl’s blouse to the side, effectively conquering the poor girl. 

In her heat Brinia had slammed the poor girl onto her back and pinned her down, and was now following it up by grabbing her at the crotch and rubbing her hands over her already flat chest.

And that’s when this stopped being a fight and started being rape.

Brinia was about to rape someone. 

Arleena’s eyes went wide with shock and horror, freezing up from beneath Alistora, feeling the dryad’s leafy fingertips run across the skin of her chest. She had already been violated there before, and the signs still remained. Her chest had been completely torn open and stitched back together, like a doll. 

That’s what she was, a rape doll, but she had never imagined it would be to Brinia Alistora. 

“Wait, no-” Brinia clasped her hands over her mouth, desperately scrambling off and away from Arleena, scurrying backwards in an attempt to get away before she did anything more to the girl. 

_ Stop it stop it stop it stop it stop it stop it.  _

Brinia cursed herself in her own head, staring down at her own hands in horror. She got no response, nothing came back to her to reassure her that everything was okay, she was alone in her own head as she shook with terror at her own impulses. 

She grabbed her precious staff from the forest floor, clutching it to herself for support and protection as she looked on at the still writhing elf girl, desperately begging for the ominous white light to subside. 

_ Make it stop!!  _

She shook the staff, tears in her eyes as she tightened her grip. She had almost raped Arleena, she still  **wanted** to rub bodies with her, and she was horrified with herself. 

Brinia put a stop to the ominous white glow. Her desire and lust were so strong that they were hurting the girl, and it needed to end. 

She turned towards the wraith, watching Arleena slowly scramble to her feet, glaring at the dryad from across the clearing. 

“I’m sorry…” Brinia hung her head, unable to even look at Arleena. “I should have listened to you… I should have done as I was told… I should have stopped and thought about what I was doing before I hurt you… I’m sorry.”

Brinia looked down at the staff, seeing just how monstrous it had become. She couldn’t be sure that it was actually Eia that was transforming the staff. It was her wasn’t it?

Eia wasn’t corrupting the Hollow’s Heart. Eia was corrupting Alistora. 

“Please… Just let me take my beating…” Brinia dropped the staff at Arleena’s feet as she approached, unarming herself, leaving her entire body defenseless. “I know I deserve this…” 

“I’m amazed.” Arleena had returned with her blade, taking this opportunity to press it to the dryad’s throat, tilting her chin upwards to face her. “For once we actually agree on something.”

Brinia swallowed nervously, tipping her head backwards and offering her throat to Arleena’s blade, asking-  **begging** \- desperately for the wraith to kill her. She couldn’t protect her people any longer, she couldn’t even protect herself. At least now she would finally be free from her pain. Once she was dead, the whole world would finally be rid of her. 

“I hate you…” Brinia closed her eyes as Arleena pulled the blade from the dryad’s throat, winding back as she readied herself to cleave the girl’s head clean off. “But I guess I am just a weakling, huh?”

Alistora opened her eyes again, hearing the blade clatter onto the forest floor next to them. She frowned, reaching up at the poor girl above her as she saw the pain in the elf’s eyes. “Arleena…” 

“ **This** is for trying to rape me!!” 

**Slam** . Arleena’s foot smacked into the side of Brinia’s head, knocking the wind out of her in an instant. 

There was a loud buzz and ferocious ringing in Brinia’s ears as the pain bubbled up to her brain, rewarding her for sitting there and finally taking the beating at Arleena’s feet.

“ **This** is for actually raping me!!” 

She stomped her foot onto Brinia’s still outstretched hand, crushing it beneath her wait. 

Brinia felt her bones crunching beneath the other woman, but even more ferocious than the pain was the heat she was suddenly in. Her loins ached, hot and wet with pleasure as she was having her punishment beaten into her. 

“ **This** is for stealing my prey and my sword away from me!!” 

Alistora flinched, feeling a brief but ultimately stinging release as Arleena jumped, slamming both feet down on top of the dryad’s arm, dragging her forward. 

With each blow, the pain was more unbearable and the pleasure was more unmanageable. She loathed herself for loving this. She didn’t even have to touch herself, she just sat through the beating and reapt the rewards, feeling the pleasure rushing into her from between her legs.

“ **This** is for humiliating me!!  **This** is for making me look weak!!”

With one foot still on top of Alistora’s hand, Arleena reached forward with the other, slamming the dryad’s head into the ground as she grinded on top of her arm with the other leg.

Alistora felt the fury in her blows, somehow loving every moment of the catharsis. Arleena’s fierce kicks and painful strikes seared a burning angry pleasure into Brinia’s body, dragging her screaming towards an orgasm without even meaning to. 

“ **This** is for everything you’ve done to my sisters!!” 

Brinia whimpered with relief as Arleena finally took her foot off the dryad’s broken hand, quickly getting the air knocked out of her as the elf woman kicked her in the side of the ribs with the same boot. 

Her body responded to Arleena’s will, pleasing the wraith by taking her beating rewards the dryad with the same pleasure, hot and ready to pop. She didn’t know how or when but she knew that it was only a matter of time before she tipped over that edge and was sent screaming into an abyss of pleasure. 

“ **This** is for trying to kill my master!!”

Arleena growled angrily, dragging her foot along the ground and kicking Alistora beneath the chin, smacking her upwards with her foot. 

Hot gasping and moaning. She hated and loved the sounds coming from her lips, body filled to the brim with eager heat at the humiliation, the pleasure too much to bear. 

“ **This** is for trying to kill  **me!!** ”

The bottom of Arleena’s boot smacked straight into Brinia’s chest, knocking her backwards onto the forest floor. 

She spread her legs, desperate to reach down with her broken hands and finger herself into submission. She shook in terror, hoping that the pain would subside and be replaced with pleasure, leaving herself vulnerable for her sister to land the final blow. 

“ **And THIS is for killing my baby!!** ” 

**Pop** . Arleena sent her foot slamming straight into Brinia’s crotch, soaring straight between her spread legs and digging directly into the dryad’s naked and exposed crotch, crushing it between her furious weight. 

Alistora came beneath Arleena’s foot, her entire body shaking with a terrible aching pleasure as she orgasmed. She couldn’t help herself, she sobbed and she screamed, moaning loudly as the magical pain converted to pleasure in her loins, matching the wraith’s blows with sensuality until she finally couldn’t take it anymore. 

Brinia lied on her back, arching herself as she rode it out, happily letting Arleena rub her desperate little cunt with the bottom of her boot until it was all over, going limp on the ground beneath her. 

She knew that Arleena hated her for this, and for everything they had been through, but she couldn’t help it. The past was the past, and the present was filled with her screaming and crying from the forest floor as she came to the sensation of being abused by the other woman. 

“You win, okay?!” Alistora blocked her face behind her hands, sobbing into them as she lied on her back, utterly defeated. “I don’t want to fight anymore… I don’t want to hurt you anymore…” 

“Then what do you want?” Arleena slowly but surely pulled her foot from the dryad’s cunt, watching Brinia lie there and embarrass herself. “If not to kill my master and ruin my life, what do you want?” 

“I want to protect people. I want to help make things better, for us and for everyone…” Brinia screwed her eyes shut, curling her hands into fists and slamming them onto the ground beside her. “I want to see my daughter grow up…” 

“I’m not doing this for you.” Arleena pressed her foot to the dryad’s head, ready to grind the bottom of her boot into the woman’s crying face and crush her skull in an instant. “I’m doing this for me.”

Alistora felt the other girl slowly lift her head, anticipating a crushing blow from above that would finally do her in. She sobbed, swallowing her fear and letting her humiliation boil to the surface. “I want to be your sister…”

Brinia opened her eyes after a final few moments of silence, watching Arleena wipe the tears from her eyes before finally setting her boot down on the forest floor below. 

“I…” Arleena’s voice was filled with pain as she spoke. “I want that too…” 

“I’m sorry, Arleena…” Brinia slowly dragged herself up onto her knees, crawling towards the other girl. The blows that had been exchanged between the two girls were less important than  **why** they had been exchanged. The way that Brinia had been dropped to her knees was less important than the fact that it had happened. “I don’t want us to hate each other anymore.”

The dryad’s body was still hungry for her. She had sat down and taken her blows, but she still had some more fight in her. She could have fought back, but she didn’t, and the two of them were better off because of it. 

Her healing magic was still disabled, and she hurt, but she could withstand it. She could have dragged the other woman to the ground screaming if she wanted to. Brinia felt just a little bit of the forest’s magic inside of her, and that by itself made sure that Arleena was no match for the dryad’s superior skill.

But she still got down and kissed Arleena’s boot for good measure. “I’m sorry…” 

“I know you are… and… I forgive you…” Arleena was sobbing just as loudly as the dryad had been as she slowly lowered herself to the forest floor next to the other woman, finally sitting together with her as equals. “That’s what grown ups do right… forgive people?” 

“Yeah…” Brinia quickly sat up, leaning against the other girl, burying her face in Arleena’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to hurt or scare you anymore…” 

“You don’t  **scare** me, you’re not scary… you’re just you.” Arleena nudged her, finally stopping to catch her breath, wiping her teary sobs from her eyes. “What’s scary was just how cool you were back there, with the deer and the golem and everything… we made a good team, and  **that** scared me.”

Brinia giggled, pulling herself from Arleena’s shoulder. “You think so?”

“Yeah.” Arleena gently moved away from her, leaving a couple inches of undeniable space between them. “But I don’t want to touch you, not like that.” 

The dryad blushed but nodded, more than a little bit disappointed as she looked down at the still glowing glyph. “And I don’t want to be touched, not really… I just have to fight the charm…” 

“Yeah, so do I. It’s really hard to not be all over you right now-”

“Oh you have no idea…” 

The two girls sat there for a few minutes, feeling like an upwards of hours, talking and giggling to themselves, slowly easing the tension between them, until one of them finally caved. 

Brinia turned to the other girl, her cheeks blushing orange. “Just one kiss?” 

Arleena blushed just as hard, much to her own chagrin. “Just one.” 

Brinia began to lean toward the wraith, having to catch herself, clearing her throat and straightening her posture. “You lead.”

The elf girl giggled, placing one hand on Brinia’s cheek as she pulled herself closer, pressing her lips together for a quick but extremely cute kiss. “There… all done.” 

“All done…” Alistora’s magical healing energy began to seep back into her as the light of the glyph faded away, completing its purpose- bringing Brinia closer to her sisters. “So… you’re in charge. What do we do now?” 

“We go find our master… wherever she is…” 

“And how do we do that?” 

“I take Hawkney and I go looking for her… he should know where she last was.”

“And me?” 

“You stay here and wait for her… can you manage being unsupervised until Demma comes back?”

“I think so… but what about the staff?”

“Well I can’t carry it, so I guess it needs to stay with you.” 

“I’ll take good care of it, like I always do.”

“You’re a sheath.” Arleena took a deep breath, slowly hitching up her mount. “You hold it for her, but you don’t use it… especially on her.” 

“I didn’t do it last night… and I’m not going to do it now.” 

“Good…” Arleena hopped onto the cockatrice, giving Brinia one last smile before she got going. “We’re counting on you.”

“Thank you… I won’t let that go to waste.” 

↞✶↠

“On your knees, hobbo.” Zawdra and her new captive were practically in the middle of the town’s square when she forced Cerilla down onto her knees. 

“Isn’t that a little bit offensive, Miss Nightingale?” Cerilla’s face was still illuminated with the bright red glow of her charm, slowly waning and waxing in brightness. 

“You’ve called me a lot worse, stop complaining.” Zawdra scoffed, forcefully kicking the hobgoblin as she knelt.

“Yes, Ma’am…” Cerilla blushed, her cheeks as bright red as the magic light was, even despite her magical charm. The two of them were beginning to attract a crowd, and she couldn’t help but feel more than a little bit humiliated by that. “Can we please go back inside now?”

“What did I just tell you?” Zawdra thumped the girl on the back of the head with the handle of her blade. 

“To stop complaining, Ma’am…” Cerilla whined, but complied, lowering her head in shame. “My apologies.”

The gargoyle woman sighed, taking a long deep breath as she stepped away from the girl just slightly, readying herself to address the crowd. 

“As I’m sure that most of you are aware of, just one week ago our home was attacked by the ferocious wendigo, a monster that lives out in the fog wastes.” Zawdra spoke loudly and clearly, and with more than enough intent to justify her actions to everyone who was watching. “As we have come to expect from her, the sacred protector of our forest engaged the creature one on one, but unlike what we’ve come to expect from her- she lost, and she was seen being dragged away in the arms of the monster.” 

Zawdra didn’t usually have to do this, but she couldn’t let things go on without an announcement, so she continued. 

“Now that could have all been a rumor if it were not for what happened just one day later. Brinia Alistora was seen returning to the village alongside the monster, just in time for her to pledge her allegiance to the wendigo… and there is no denying that that happened, you were all there to see that, just as you are all here to hear me say this.” 

“All of you have been demanding answers since then, wanting to know what was happening and why this forest dome was raised around our home, and you deserve to know the truth.”

“Some of you have been hurt in the days since. Broken bones, severed tails, bites, bruises, beatings at the hands of this one here.” 

Nightingale lifted one boot, slamming her foot down on Cerilla’s shoulder, pushing her down into the ground to help make her point while also punishing her for hurting her people. 

“Yes. This woman is a hobgoblin. No. Najistaire has not returned. The hobgoblins are nowhere to be seen.” Zawdra kicked the poor hobgoblin in the side, leaning down and yanking her upright, still on her knees. “Tell them what you are, and who you work for.” 

Cerilla blushed, whining under her breath as she looked up at all of the angry faces in the crowd staring at her. “Hi… I’m Cerilla-” 

_ “It’s the Crucifier!!” “Hobgoblin scum!!” “War criminal!!” “Tyrant!!” “Fiend!!!” “Monster!!”  _

The den mother couldn’t even get three words in before everyone was shouting insults and names at her, cutting her off before she could say anything meaningful, which just enraged Cerilla- and when Cerilla got enraged, her magical charm kicked in to subdue her. “I… I… I…” 

“SILENCE!!!!” Nightingale shouted out into the crowd, putting the sound to rest with her voice, authoritative and powerful. “Listen to what she has to say before you decide her judgement…” 

Cerilla looked up at Zawdra, her cheeks still bright red. “Thank you…”

“Keep going.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” Cerilla took a deep breath, recomposing herself before addressing the crowd. “My name is Cerilla, and I didn’t just used to be a general… I was the empress’ daughter.”

_ “Abuser!!” “Hang her!!” “Chop her head off??”  _ There was another quick round of hissing and boos at the girl before they quickly quieted and Cerilla could continue. 

“I can hear your anger, but I only  **used** to be a princess… because I am now a slave.” She blushed, lowering her gaze towards the ground as she admitted to what she had since become. “I am a slave, and that’s all there is to it. The hobgoblins aren’t coming, the hobgoblins aren’t here, this isn’t their doing, not this time…”

“And who do you work for, Cerilla?” Zawdra prompted her, a foot resting itself on the hobgoblin’s back. “Tell them who your master is.”

“Eia Madaerie… I belong to Eia Madaerie…” She swallowed nervously, briefly looking up at the gargoyle. “The wendigo.” 

“The wendigo that we have feared for so long is apparently a woman- someone named Eia Madaerie.” Zawdra took her foot off of Cerilla, gently tugging on the rope connected to the girl’s handcuffs. “And I can already hear much of your opposition to this, but I have been working towards forging some sort of alliance with the wendigo… in the hopes of attaining some sort of peace between-” 

  
  
  


**_GROOOOOOAAAWWUUURGHHHHRRRRRRGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!_ **

Louder than any sound the village had ever heard before was the sound of the glass shattering howl from the forest behind Nightingale, followed by the sound of earth shaking fists pounding against the forest barrier, and the sounds of screams in the crowd in front of her. 

The ring of trees that formed the village’s birdcage was so thick and the sounds of insults being thrown at Cerilla so loud that no one had seen or heard it approach until it was too late, but there it was- the swamp golem- pounding on the wall of trees that surrounded Thorn. 

A wall that the monstrous elemental construct was intent on quickly tearing down. The oppressive red glow of the monsters eyes were the only lights that pierced the gaps between the trees, but only until the giant’s fist had ripped its first whole in the forest barrier. 

It roared again, prompting everyone to start either screaming or fleeing, heading towards the walls of the barrier that was still currently keeping them trapped inside. 

“No…” Zawdra looked up at it, watching the helpless citizens running for safety and unable to escape the village. She stomped her foot, snapping at Cerilla. “Where is she?!”

Cerilla blushed, flinching at every subsequent pound of the monster’s fist against the wall of trees. “Wh-where is who, Ma’am?”

“Eia!! Where is Eia?!” She shouted at her, growling under her breath. “If she’s meant to be the one to protect us, then where’s the wendigo?!”

“I-I don’t know, Miss… She-” There was another piercing shriek from the giant monster, causing the hobgoblin to flinch again. “She was supposed to be back for me by now…” 

“Well that’s just great. Now what are we supposed to-”

“Mom!!!” Zawdra quickly spun around, finding Fennecca running up to her. “What do we do??” 

“I need you to get to safety, honey-”

“I’m not running away from this, mom.” Fennecca protested, even despite the giant monster attack. “What do I do? How can I help?” 

“Your wrist is still broken, you can’t-” 

“Yes I can, mom!!” She gripped the magic blade at her waist, ready to wield it. “She didn’t get both hands.” 

“Fennecca… please, I can’t have you getting hurt.”

“Yeah well if you didn’t want that then maybe you should have killed the wendigo when you could!! This wouldn’t be happening if mom were here!!” 

“ **I know they wouldn’t!!!** ” Zawdra shouted at her, her normally stony face heating up with anger. “ **But even if she were, she wouldn’t let you fight that thing, and she’s not!!!** ” 

“No, she’s not here, and I don’t see a wendigo in sight, do you?!” Fennecca scoffed, gesturing to the quickly clearing crowd around them. “If she’s not here, then  **who’s** going to fight it?!”

“ **I am!!!** ” Zawdra let out a low growl and scolded her. There was no wendigo to protect them right now, and that meant that she was the next best thing. She swallowed nervously, looking up at the giant creature as it finally tore a whole in the forest barrier big enough for it to enter through. “I am… I’m going to fight that thing…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again, it's me!! I hope you liked this chapter, because i know i sure had a nice time writing it.  
> School's being stressful right now and I'm looking towards finding away to support myself while the pandemic continues to rage on-
> 
> I put a lot of heart and soul into these things so if you think you'd like to maybe toss a tip at me, go ahead: [Support me here!!](https://ko-fi.com/clairanette)
> 
> I love you all, and I hope you look forward to the next chapter, it's going to be a really big one~


	18. Take a Bow

The sounds of their swords clattering against each other echoed throughout the clearing.

The gargoyle, always remaining vigilant, quickly held out her blade to parry her enemy’s strike. Her opponent struck with force hard enough to send the gargoyle recoiling just slightly with every move she blocked, keeping the earth elemental on the backfoot. 

The hobgoblin- strong, tall, and imposing- stayed on the offense, never giving her opponent a chance to counter her. She never made mistakes, she never slipped up, she never played defense. 

The stone woman slid backwards, holding her sword up to block her enemy’s attack just a moment too late, and feeling the resulting recoil because of it. The hobgoblin woman, Captain Stormheart as she was called amongst her own ranks, had a different name known to the masses of Najistairean enemies. 

Cinna the Sinner. 

She swung downwards with her two-handed glaive, striking at just the right moment to completely knock the gargoyle woman’s weapon from her grasp entirely, sending the sword clattering to the ground beneath them. 

Within moments she had the blade of her opponent’s glaive pressed to her throat, ready to completely slice through her stony throat at the slightest of moves, and Cinna couldn’t seem more happy about that.

“You lose, Nightingale.”

Zawdra, staring into the hobgoblin’s eyes, slowly lowered herself to her knees, holding her now disarmed hands up for her opponent to see, lowering her gaze just enough to show her respect while also keeping her eyes locked with the hobgoblin woman’s to make sure she wasn’t about to be beheaded. 

“Good…” Cinna snickered at her, carefully pulling the blade of her polearm away from the girl so as to not accidentally chip her stony hide as she reached down and magically forced the gargoyle’s sword up from the forest floor and directly into her hand.

The hobgoblin general smiled eagerly, tossing the sword up into the air towards Zawdra, not in an attempt to cut her head off but for the girl to catch, and she did. Zawdra’s stony wings fluttered, quickly propelling her up off of the ground and into the air to catch the sword before it hit the ground. She had gotten that move down to a perfect science, taking off into the air at just the right speed and angle to catch the fairly dull sword with her mouth, catching it by the blade with her teeth like a dog fetching a toy from midair. 

And then she landed back on her feet, safely and effortlessly, still clenching the sword with her teeth and holding it there. She seemingly had no qualms at all about this, despite how dangerous it actually was, she knew she could do it without issue. 

“Alright you-” Cinna smiled, taking several steps away from Zawdra, her back turned to the gargoyle until she had finished crossing the clearing. “Three flips and a bow, then we’ll go again~”

Zawdra nodded wordlessly, the sword still clenched between her teeth as she did her tricks for the hobgoblin. She loosened, took a few quick steps forward before leaping into the air, using her wings to execute a flawless backflip before landing in just the right spot to do it again, and then did two more times before bowing. 

Once she had bowed, and gotten a verbal but wordless sign from the Captain that she was pleased with the gargoyle’s efforts, she finally retrieved the weapon from her own mouth. 

“Ready?” It was Zawdra that spoke first, asking her hobgoblin opponent whether she was ready to fight again, despite it being the gargoyle who had just finished up with backflips. 

“Hold on, slow down.” Cinna shook her head, chuckling under her breath at the overeager earth eagle. “Catch your breath~” 

“Yes, Ma’am~” Zawdra put up no fight. That word naturally slipped off of her tongue while speaking to Cinna, her superior. Respect for the better fighter came easy to her. 

Despite the appearance given off by the two of them fighting, they were not actually enemies, but allies- or more accurately in this case, instructor and student.

There was something to be said that Zawdra’s willingness to jump right back in the fight before she had finished catching her breath spoke to an ability to get back into the battle at even the worst times if necessary, but the gargoyle wasn’t to that part quite yet.

Zawdra was not a warrior, she hadn’t been born a fighter, and she never actually fought against the hobgoblin forces from the other side, she was learning. The gargoyle professed a desire to her mentor to learn how to fight, and Cinna was more than willing to teach Nightingale how to wield a weapon and hold her own. 

It was honorable that Zawdra was willing to keep going right after a loss, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Cinna needed her to catch her breath so that she would be able to properly learn. Zawdra needed to learn the basics, and for Cinna to teach them to her, she needed to slow down and go at an easy pace, at least to begin with.

“Go on, lick my boot a few times and we’ll go again.” Cinna smiled at her, swiftly defeating the girl in yet another combat bout even after letting Zawdra catch her breath.

Cinna figured that the best way to teach the girl was by sparring with her, now that she had learned all of the moves, she just needed to apply them. Poor Nightingale had yet to win a single round, however, and that wasn’t at all a surprise to either of them. 

Captain Stormheart was the second highest ranking officer in the camp, just above Zeius Clawhawk, a former subordinate of hers that had been promoted to the rank of Captain when the Captain above Cinna had died just a couple months prior- and just below the commanding officer in their forces, Imperial Cerilla Najistrae.

Cerilla the Crucifier. 

That is to say, nobody expected Zawdra Nightingale to ever defeat Cinna in battle, she was here to learn from, not to surpass. 

Zawdra sighed, not in anger but in disappointment, as she dropped to her hands and knees. She was used to this, licking the bottom of Cinna’s boot with her stony tongue, so it was no more trouble to her here than it normally was. 

The bottoms of both of the hobgoblin’s boots were covered in soot, dust, and dirt- which Zawdra quickly cleared off with her tongue. 

She knew that the bottom’s of her opponent’s boots were just going to continue to get covered in filth just from being outside, and that in just a few rounds she would be forced to lick that filth clean again, but she didn’t mind. 

“There, Miss.” Zawdra sat back up on her knees, looking up at Cinna as she wiped her lips clean. “I’ve licked them clear.” 

“Atta girl~” Cinna smiled at her, holding the sword back out for the gargoyle to take, ready for the next round. 

This was how it went with them, they sparred for a few minutes, Zawdra would ultimately lose, and Cinna would instruct her to perform some sort of degrading task or trick before being allowed to continue. 

She’d make the gargoyle bow, kneel, do backflips, expose herself to her opponent, endure some sort of physical torture, and yes- lick the hobgoblin’s boots clean. When Cinna really wanted a break, she’d even sometimes make Nightingale fuck herself to an orgasm, usually with the handle of her own weapon, but it was a worthwhile cost for the gargoyle.

After all, Cinna was Zawdra’s master. She was going to be doing these things for the hobgoblin inside or outside, whenever Cinna wanted her to, and this wasn’t any different. She was going to be doing tricks for the Captain’s entertainment regardless of her training. Zawdra was a slave, she did as she was told. 

If enduring a higher volume of degrading tricks and punishments meant that Nightingale would get to someday fight alongside her master in battle, then it was worth it for her. Zawdra had no skill with the blade, and she wanted to change that, even if it meant enduring public debasement and humiliation at her master’s hands.

Zawdra was no soldier, she was a dog. 

The najistaireans didn’t create the gargoyles, but they had their place in hobgoblin society. They flew quickly and nimbly, despite being made of stone, but that didn’t make them great soldiers. Some races got lucky, but gargoyles were not one of them. They were sometimes permitted to be bodyguards, but they were more often used as guard dogs. 

Gargoyles were pets, and Zawdra was no different. 

She had been a child back then, but she still remembered the day when she found out that her parents, who were proper soldiers, were never going to be coming back. Because in their place came the hobgoblins, and that was the day that she ceased being a future member of society and instead became a pet. 

There were two ways for new slaves to survive in hobgoblin society, find a way to be useful to the empire, or find a way to make someone keep you. Make the empire at large happy, or make an individual happy, those were the options. 

So Zawdra found a master, and said master turned out to be Cinna Stormheart, that’s how she became Cinna’s dog. 

And that’s how Cinna saw her, as her pet. She didn’t really expect Zawdra to become a very good soldier, she was just playing with her dog. Unfortunately for said dog, Cinna sometimes got a little bit reckless when playing rough with her pet. 

“Oww!! Oww!! Oww!!” Zawdra didn’t even need to drop her weapon, Cinna made sure to do that for her, leaving her without a hand to even wield said weapon. The gargoyle dropped to her knees, calling out in pain, one of her two hands having been completely cleaved from her body, entirely by accident. 

“Oh dear…” Cinna’s frowned, crouching next to the pained gargoyle as she took a look at the injury. “I guess we’re done for the day, huh?” 

“I’m sorry, Master.” Zawdra focused on her owner’s discomfort rather than her own pain, choosing to apologize rather than complain. “I didn’t mean to-” 

“It’s alright, Zawdra.” Cinna gently helped Nightingale back up to her feet, careful not to hurt her any further. “We’ll find another time for this, let’s go get you fixed~” 

This wasn’t the first time this had happened, unfortunately, and the most likely reason that Cinna permitted it to happen again was because she knew that Zawdra, a creature made of stone, could be repaired. 

It was a strange thing, that honestly made Zawdra feel more like an object than a person in her master’s eyes, but the gargoyle could be put back together. It was something you’d expect from machines, golems, or other constructs, and not natural living creatures- which made the gargoyle feel like she fell into that category. It made her feel like an object. 

You don’t purposefully maim a creature, because you don’t want to permanently damage them. But **things** can be repaired. No matter how broken, the gargoyle can be rebuilt. Zawdra Nightingale can be repaired. 

Luckily for them, they had somebody with the know how to put an earth creature back together.

“Imperial Najistrae…” The gargoyle woman quickly found herself on her knees, trying not to bother the officer with her pained wails. “Permission to address you?” 

“Permission granted.” They were also lucky enough to find Cerilla at a time where she was already bent over her workbench, though she didn’t turn around to face the gargoyle at any point. 

“I was hoping you would be willing to reconstruct me again, Miss Najistrae.” Cinna didn’t come in with the girl, it helped Zawdra build character to go through the humiliation of begging to be fixed all on her own. Fear would help rebuild her, just like magic. 

“Oh yeah?” Cerilla, tinkering away, still didn’t turn around to face the slave. “And why should I do that?” 

“Captain Stormheart has requested that I be repaired, Ma’am.” Zawdra lowered her head in defeat, knowing very well that her own words would earn her no favors with the hobgoblin, only her master’s. 

Cerilla sighed, getting more than a little bit annoyed at being interrupted. “And I suppose that means she was the one who caused the damage, yes?”

“Yes, Ma’am…” The gargoyle nodded her head, clutching her stump limb. 

“Captain Stormheart should stop breaking you then.” Cerilla chirped back at her, mocking the two of them for both being so reckless. “There, problem solved, go away.”  
  
“It was my fault, Miss.” Zawdra replied, her voice measured so as to not imply that her owner was at fault for what happened. “I made a mistake during training that accidentally caused her to inflict damage that could have otherwise been avoided.”

“That gives me even less reason to repair you, slave.” Cerilla scoffed, sitting back in her seat, relaxing for a couple of moments. “Slaves live with their mistakes.” 

“Yes, Ma’am…” Zawdra sighed, frowning miserably as she stood up, trying not to reel from the pain. “Apologies for bothering you.” 

“I didn’t dismiss you yet, Nightingale.” Cerilla wiped her sweat from her brow, finally turning around in her seat to look at the girl. “Come back here.”

“I’m sorry, Ma’am-”

“Don’t bother kneeling.” Cerilla sat up from her seat, stopping the gargoyle in her tracks before she could get back down on her knees. “Let’s get you up on the table.”

“You’re sure, Ma’am?” Zawdra smiled, eager to be getting repaired again. 

“I’m sure.” Cerilla smiled, pointing off to the side with her head. “Go.” 

Zawdra did as she was told, hopping up onto the operating table and laying down, watching as Cerilla picked up a strange red gem from the other workbench, bringing it along with her for repairs. 

And Cerilla repaired her, using some strange magic that Zawdra didn’t understand to repair her arm with pieces of stone from other sources outside of herself. She couldn’t figure out how it worked, all she knew was that it came from the strange magical gem. 

“What is that, Ma’am?” Once it was over, Zawdra followed the hobgoblin imperial to her other workbench, seeing for the first time a strange almost ten foot tall clay monster laying there on its back, completely immobile. “Is that… an elemental?” 

“A golem.” Cerilla grinned proudly, holding the gem in her hand. “I just finished her. Isn’t she pretty?” 

“What is it, Miss?” Zawdra asked nervously, still standing behind her superior. 

“This one here is my new slave~” Cerilla grinned proudly, smirking at the gargoyle. “I’ve just been doing cosmetic work on it before I bring it to life.” 

Zawdra gasped quietly. “Bring it to life?”

“Yep.” Cerilla held the gem in her claws, pointing it out for the gargoyle to see. “Once I put this thing into its head, it’ll hop to life, and I’ll be able to command it.” 

“But what happens to the gem then?” Zawdra nervously stared at the gemstone, recognizing it as the single piece of magical equipment that Cerilla had consistently been using to repair her when Cinna accidentally ended up damaging her. 

“It’ll stay inside of the golem.” Cerilla smiled, tucking the gem back into her coat pocket. “That’s how I’ll be able to control it.”

“But then…” Zawdra swallowed nervously, seeing where this was going. “You won’t be able to repair me, will you?”

“No. Very smart of you to make that observation.” Cerilla finally sat back down at her workbench. “That’s why you probably ought to convince that master of yours to stop breaking you.”

“I…” Zawdra started and then stopped, knowing that it wasn’t her place to argue what she ought to be doing with someone who defined her entire existence. “I understand, Miss…”

“Zawdra.” Cerilla stared her in the eyes, addressing her by her first name. “You need to thank your master for your training, and then you need to stop.” 

“But, I want to be a soldier, Ma’am.” Zawdra protested, unable to hold her tongue just this once. “I don’t want to be a helpless guard dog for the rest of my life, I want to be a real person, not an animal.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want, slave.” Cerilla remained calm, but stern. The best generals were the ones that convinced their subordinates to genuinely agree with them, and not just follow their orders. “Gargoyles are pets for a reason. It’s for their own good.” 

“But I don’t like being a guard dog, Ma’am.”

“It’s not your place to like what you do, it’s your place to do what you do, and what you do is as you’re told.” Cerilla went on, continuing to lecture the girl on the nature of her own existence. “That’s why I’m telling you, be happy as a guard dog, because trying to do otherwise is going to get you killed.” 

“So I’ll be more careful.” Zawdra continued to argue back, desperately wanting to prove the leading officer wrong. “And if I end up dead then it’s my fault, I don’t care if I die.”

“I don’t care about **your** feelings, Nightingale. You’re the dog.” Cerilla sighed, snarking back at the slave. “I’m worried about what happens to my friend when her dog dies.” 

“She’s going to train me well, Ma’am. I’m going to be prepared for anything.” 

“Neither of you will be happier with that arrangement, slave.” The hobgoblin woman had no insecurity in her voice, she had done this for years, she knew what she was talking about. “The soldier slaves that you aspire to be don’t like their position either, they do it because they’re told to, not because they want to.” 

Zawdra quieted down, unable to continue arguing with Cerilla and her superior logic, at least not from her position. She simply folded her arms in front of her, holding her hands at her waist. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

“Know your place, pet.” Cerilla smiled, waving the girl off before turning back to her newest creation. “Run along, fetch sticks, do tricks for your master. There’s no shame in licking her boots like she licks mine. We all have a place, even you and me.” 

“And the golem…” Zawdra couldn’t help but keep staring at it, nervous about what it would become. “Where’s its place?”

“Under my heel.” Cerilla smiled, picking up her tools in order to keep chiseling away at the creature. “It’s going to be my new slave~”

Zawdra paused, frowning at the thought of it, being created just to serve another. It didn’t seem like a life worth living to her. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to live life as someone’s slave from your first day all the way up until your last. “You really miss your last slave, don’t you?” 

“I do, and I’m certain your master would miss you quite a lot if you chose to leave her as well.” Cerilla resumed her work, her back once again turned to the slave, unafraid of what the gargoyle might try to pull. “So if you’re doing this to try and escape her, stop. She’s like a little sister to me, I won’t have you hurting my best friend like my slave hurt me.” 

“Of course, Ma’am… I’d never dream of it.” Zawdra couldn’t help but to be scared of the husk lying on the table, just waiting to be animated, like a zombie who had never gotten the chance to really live. “And your slave… what do you plan on doing if you ever see her again?” 

“Well that’s the thing, isn’t it?” Cerilla smirked, giving Nightingale the side eye. “She should hope she finds **me** first, because if my new toy ever spots her, well… that little maggot is dead on arrival.” 

“So that’s what this is for, Ma’am?” Zawdra swallowed nervously, staring into the empty eyes of what would eventually become the swamp golem. “To destroy her?” 

“Not just her. Everyone. Everyone I deem my enemy.” Cerilla went on, licking her lips in excitement. “I’ll get Killtree and her dog yet for what they did to me, but I won’t stop there… I’ll destroy everything she and that wendigo love, even if it kills me.” 

“The… wendigo?” 

“It’s too long of a story for right now. If you don’t know, don’t ask.” Cerilla snickered, taunting the slave. “Just know that once we get to the Eternal Hollow… nobody will be safe from me. Not anymore.” 

“And if it doesn’t work, Ma’am?” Zawdra backed up a few steps, eager to get away from her. “What if it turns on you instead?” 

“Then we’ll just have to put it down.” Cerilla smirked, turning back to Zawdra one last time, her eyes glowing with that evil glare of hers. “Like a dog.” 

↞✶↠

“No…”

Brinia stared off in the distance, hearing the sounds of tragedy, the fearsome roar and the helpless screams of innocents deep in the woods. She picked the Hollow’s Heart back up, clutching it to her chest like a safety blanket, for support. 

“What do I do?” 

She asked it aloud, desperate from an answer despite being utterly alone here. Demmara had gone home, Arleena went to go find her master, and Eia hadn’t returned yet. 

_Is that why she hasn’t returned?_ There was only one place for Brinia’s to turn to for answers, her own head, or rather- the voice inside of her own head. _Is she out fighting that thing, or… is she dead?_

She didn’t want to entertain the thought, she just wanted to sit back and hope that the wendigo was making good on her promise of fighting off evil and protecting the Eternal Hollow. She wanted to have faith and obey, but how could she- she was the one currently holding the Hollow’s Heart, and not her master. 

_Answer me!!_ Brinia shouted, not out loud, but with her mind. _You were with her? What happened?? Where did she go???_

She didn’t get an answer back for a few moments, apparently being shunned by the crazy voice talking to her in her own mind. 

_Don’t just sit here and pretend like you’re not there- say something!!_

**_And what am I supposed to say?_ **

Finally, Alistora got an answer, though it wasn’t one she had hoped for. 

_Where is Eia? You were with her, how are you here with me now and not with her?_

**_The cockatrice found me and picked me up, that’s when I lead it back here to you-_ **

_But before that, what happened to Eia?_

**_Master, you mean._ **

_Not the time!! Please, just tell me what’s going on??_

**_I don’t know!! We got separated out in the woods while that thing was chasing us!!_ **

_Do you remember anything else? Anything at all?_

**_She was trying to lead it away, back to where it sleeps. We got close to the village of Blossoms, and then Master got snagged on something-_ **

_Snagged on something? What kind of something?_

**_Like a trap. Almost like… almost like there were hunters defending the area?_ **

_Defending the area? What area, Blossoms? Blossoms is nothing more than ruins at this point, the swamp golem destroyed it. I was there, I couldn’t stop it- I would know._

**_I was there too, remember? I realize this-_ **

_So what, it’s attacking the village of Blossoms again?_

**_Brinia… do those screams sound like they’re coming from a deserted city?_ **

_No. Those sound like… my people._

Brinia stopped, cursing herself and her bad luck under her breath. Somehow the monster turned tail and found its way to Thorn, either killing or losing sight of the wendigo in the process. 

_What do we do now?_

**_What do you mean?_ **

_About the swamp golem, what do we do?_

**_We do what we were told, we sit down and wait for Master._ **

_Eia might not be coming back, please!!_ Brinia gripped the staff as tight as she possibly could. _I can’t just sit around and let people die… I’m supposed to protect them-_

**_Master is supposed to protect them._ **

_Yeah well she’s not there to do that, is she?!_ Brinia couldn’t believe she was yelling at an inanimate object within her own brain. _Please… I can’t just sit around and wait. I have to go help them._

**_And what do you want me to do about that?_ **

_Give me back my full power, please. Just for a little bit… I need to go help them._

**_I can’t do that-_ **

_Yes, you can!! You just did, please?! Just until I’ve saved them… please?_

**_…Okay._ **

_Thank you. Thank you so much._

**_You have ten minutes…_ **

_I need more than just-_

**_You have ten minutes, Alistora. I’m not in control of myself anymore, that’s all I have the power to give you._ **

_You’re sure?_

**_I’ll give you as much time as I can, but…_ **

_That’s all I ask. Thank you._

**_Please… stay safe._ **

_Don’t worry about me, I’ll do my best~_

**_Hold on tight~_ **

Brinia sighed, gripping the magic staff to her chest, feeling a rush of magical power flow into her from her hands for the first time in days, bringing her back the magical potential that the wendigo had cut her off from.

_That’s more like it._

**_Tree stride?_ **

_Tree stride._

The dryad grinned, more than eager to bust some giant monster heads as she twirled, tossing herself headfirst towards the nearest tree, and seemingly melding into it in an instant. 

↞✶↠

“You can’t be serious right?” Fennecca huffed angrily, glaring her mother down. “You don’t want me to fight that thing, but you’re going to take it head on?” 

“I’m going to **try** , Fennecca.” Zawdra took a deep breath, putting her hands on the minx girl’s shoulders and sighing. 

“What makes you think you can take it?”

“I don’t think I can take it.”

“Then what are you planning on doing?”

“I’m going to slow it down.” She smiled, pulling the younger woman into her chest for a hug. “I just want to protect you.” 

“I…” Fennecca choked, squeezing the gargoyle woman with her only usable arm. “I love you, mom… I’m sorry.” 

“I love you too, Fennecca. Now please-” She smiled, holding the girl at arm’s reach. “Go.” 

Fennecca smiled, nodding nervously before turning tail and running off towards the rest of the villagers, leaving Zawdra here alone as her only remaining family disappeared into the crowd. 

_The swamp golem._

It was a massive gargantuan terror, looming over the village at almost 50 feet in height, taller than each and every building in the settlement, and just about two thirds of the height of the forest dome at its tallest. 

Oversized gusts of sand, soot, and dust kicked up off of the ground with each footstep it took, crushing anything beneath its oversized feet. It moved slowly, but that didn’t mean much for a giant beast like the swamp golem, who spanned the length of an entire building with each step. 

Zawdra’s ears were flooded by not only the beast’s roars, but screams from all around her, her citizens fleeing for their lives. It didn’t seem to take any particular interest in stomping out the flickers of life at its feet, but it was hungry for destruction. There were very few buildings in thorn constructed to be over two stories in height, but the ones that were became instant targets for the beast’s rampage. 

It wasn’t a smart creature, it just sought to mindlessly destroy, swinging its boulder sized fists into whichever building caught its heinous glowing eyes first, which usually turned out to be the tallest of them. 

Nightingale watched the monster send its fist soaring into the side of the closest three story building, smashing through the walls and scraping the bricks and boards away, shredding through it and erasing it like it was nothing. 

The whole top floor of the building collapsed, delivering a flurry of bricks and shrapnel tumbling to the streets below, descending on the crowds beneath. 

She jumped into action, her sword sliding from its sheath as she flew up into the air, slashing down loose chunks of the collapsing structure with her weapon, reducing them to dust before they could slam onto the heads of unsuspecting bystanders below.

_“Watch out!!!!”_

Zawdra turned, zoning in on the sounds of yelling from behind her followed by a scream of terror from a young child, a small human girl tripping on the rubble at her feet and slamming into the ground as the bits and pieces of the destroyed tower fell upon her. 

“Aannghh!!” Zawdra barely managed to avoid the hailstorm of brick and mortar as she leapt towards the girl, getting to her just in time to grab her up off of the ground and pull her into her arms, wrapping herself around the child to protect her from the deadly debris. 

The gargoyle woman felt her stony backside being pounded with bricks and stones, unable to tell whether they had fallen off of the building or off of the golem as it smashed into her wings, wrapped around her and the girl to protect them. 

“Are you okay?” Zawdra waited until the coast was clear before letting the girl go, watching her stumble away from the gargoyle woman as she ran to her mother’s side, watching her jump into the endlessly grateful human woman’s arms before the two of them ran away together. 

_Now for the monster._

She turned, flapping her wings and taking herself up into the air. Cerilla had left in the ensuing chaos after the beast arrived, slipping into the crowd and getting away from her, seemingly to run away and save her own hide. 

“Great. Guess I shouldn’t have expected much from a hobgoblin imperial.” 

If Eia wasn’t here to protect them, then Zawdra was still Thorn’s Lady Protector. That was the title that had been passed down from Brinia Alistora to all of the forest’s protectors up until her, and she was going to live up to that title. The dryad was nowhere to be seen, and that meant the duty of saving her people, their people, fell upon her. 

She soared into the sky, inevitably catching the monster’s eye. Zawdra might not have been lady protector at the time, but she was there for the destruction of Blossoms. She knew how to fight this thing. The creature found flying little things around its head a particular nuisance, invisible or not. 

_It’s bigger than it used to be._

That much was certain to Zawdra, it wasn’t this huge the last time it had shown up, it was bigger. The creature was a hideous fiend made up of clay and mud, it destroyed and consumed. The swamp golem assimilated its destruction into itself to help build upwards, to make itself bigger. 

But it **didn’t** naturally target living creatures. That was something it had clearly been ordered to do, though by whom Zawdra wasn’t sure, because it almost certainly wasn’t the hobgoblins. There were no hobgoblins here. 

_This is your fault, Cerilla…_

She cursed the former imperial in her own head, growling angrily at the woman who was once her owner’s commanding officer. 

Before the war, before the siege against the Eternal Hollow, Cerilla commanded the hobgoblin forces inside of the great city of Zayakost. But when the high hall of Zayakost fell to a sudden monster attack, Cerilla had lost her slave, the most high ranking slave in the entire camp. 

That’s where the swamp golem came from. She knew because she was there. 

It was her replacement. Back when the hobgoblins, led by Cerilla Najistrae, attacked the Eternal Hollow, it was right there at her side. It was a slave to her will, it was effectively the highest ranking slave, being a creature that couldn’t help but to follow the commands it was given. Even if it couldn’t remember her like she remembered it, the swamp golem would still attack. It was a mindless monster, and it hated little birds like Zawdra.

She swiped her wings, propelling herself to the side, out of the way of the slow but powerful fist of the golem as it tried to punch her out of the air.

 _Clang!!_ Zawdra’s sword, mundane and non magical, seemed to just bounce off of the creature’s strong rocky hide. She should have seen it coming, but she was still just a little bit surprised. 

Sure, the swamp golem was a kind of earth elemental, and so was Zawdra, and Zawdra had a rocky stone hide. But unlike Zawdra, a bird monster made from stone, the golem was a swamp style creature. It was made of stone and soot, but especially clay. That’s how it assimilated new material into it, by being moldable, and just a little bit soft. 

Clay wasn’t alway the softest of materials, but it was definitely weaker than pure stone, and even Zawdra had sensitive weak spots. Weak spots that she would **never** tell you about, and insist it was for practical reasons, rather than being embarrassed to talk about her most sensitive spots. 

But if it was anything like Zawdra, knowing those weak spots might just help her to take it down. Its fists were hardened into boulders, but it had to have weaker spots in order for it to assimilate material. It had a weak spot, just like Zawdra, and she knew exactly where that weak spot was. 

Oral- errr, the mouth. The mouth was going to be its weak spot. 

But Zawdra, being who and what she was, couldn’t just fly into the golem’s mouth without being assimilated, she was made of clay and soot, and especially stone- after all. But a well placed attack to its mouth **could** possibly take it down, and if it was up to her to take it down, it was worth trying. 

_Swoosh!!_ She swooped, dodging out of the way of yet another strike from the creature’s two giant limbs. It was a lot closer to hitting her that time, but it still missed. 

She stalled for time, keeping the creature’s attention on her. As long as it was solely focused on her, it couldn’t attack other citizens or structures, and it gave her villagers more time to get away. 

She flapped her wings as hard as she could, sending herself sailing straight towards the creature’s head, striking at it with her blade as hard as she could. 

Nothing. The blade bounced off of the creature’s hardened skull as well, propelling Zawdra backwards- and now she was right up in its face. She could dodge an attack from its fist at long range, she could see its attacks coming, but not when she was so close to it. 

There was a thunderously loud clapping sound, and a gush of wind that quickly propelled her away from the creature, as the monster snapped its jaws shut. Zawdra flew backwards, riding the winds as she just barely ended up getting eaten whole by the golem. 

She winced, her fierce glare morphing into a terrified scowl as she saw the monster beginning to turn its head, and then she saw her. 

It was Fennecca, standing on the roof of an adjacent building, trying to purposefully get the creature’s attention. Trying to save her mother’s life. 

Zawdra dove, trying her damnedest to get to Fennecca before the monster could, cursing herself for letting her daughter put herself in danger. But maybe Fennecca wasn’t quite as reckless as Zawdra assumed.

There was a loud bang, almost like the sound of a cannon erupting, followed by a streak of red hot light soaring across the sky, a spear made entirely of fire- sinking itself into the arm of the creature before it could flatten the minx girl, and Fennecca seemed more than please. 

“You did it!! It’s hooked!!” Fennecca hopped to her feet, running across the rooftop as she stared down at the ground, towards the streets below. “Can you sever it??” 

“It did go all the way through.” Kouzonn, the former quartermaster, yelled back up at Fennecca from below, his assistant and Fennecca’s best friend, Rhakkiza, at his side. “If I pull, it’s going to dislodge itself.”

Zawdra just stared at the magical attack the man had just launched at the creature, she knew he was a mage, but she didn’t understand what kind. She did however understand that her daughter was pulling something off that even her mothers weren’t too keen on, working together and fighting with others. 

It was like a flaming harpoon had dug itself into the arm of the creature, and was now being pulled on by a gargantuan chain made of fire, clutched in the hands of the human mage below. 

“Damn hobgoblins, always have hated them…” He cracked the chain like a whip, trying to topple the creature over to no avail, it wasn’t going anywhere. 

The golem’s eyes glowed, glaring now at the creature keeping it tethered as it heaved, ripping the end of the chain straight from his hands and freeing itself from its enemies grasp. 

It was an annoyance to Kouzonn, but there wasn’t much more that he could do but bring his hands to his mouth, blowing on his palms to force his attack to dissipate entirely. “That’s all I’ve got kids, get out of here.”

Zawdra just hovered there in the air, frozen in shocked silence as she watched her daughter’s plan unfold in front of her eyes. It might not have succeeded, but it was smarter than Zawdra had assumed her capable of. Fennecca was nowhere in sight when the gargoyle turned to look for her, scanning the rooftops for any sight of her and hoping that she was safe. What Zawdra didn’t see was the monster turning its attacks back onto her, slamming her with its fist and sending her soaring straight into the ginormous forest wall, the birdcage of trees that surrounded the city. 

Nightingale smacked into it with a loud thud, but she didn’t break. She was stone, if anything the trees behind her cracked a little bit, she could survive getting tossed into a tree from afar. But she could really say the same about the creature’s next attack, as the golem’s fist soared towards her, she wasn’t sure she could survive getting crushed by a much bigger and more powerful stone. 

“Hey honey~” Zawdra turned her head, hearing a voice in the trees beside her. “Did you miss me?” 

She recognized that voice, she recognized that woman. Brinia Alistora, standing right here in the bark covered flesh, flowers and thorns in her viney hair, magical staff in hand, and collar around her neck. 

“Brinia…” 

“Watch out~” Alistora always had a smug smile on her face whenever she was confident about going about things, and as she raised that staff towards the creature, she was confident in herself. It was like a miniature forcefield, made of white winds blowing the leaves around them, as it blocked the golem’s fist. 

Right. This was no time for reunions, she was just glad that Alistora was safe. 

“Is Eia here?” Brinia turned to the gargoyle, who was astonished that she was asking **her** that question, and only just a little bit torn up that her new girlfriend was who Brinia was asking about at the first chance she got. 

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Zawdra gritted her teeth, glaring at the collar around the dryad’s throat. “Figured she’d send you instead of just coming here herself.” 

“Well she didn’t-” Brinia winced, biting her lower lip nervously as she realized the wendigo really had disappeared. “So she’s not here…”

“No.” Zawdra assured her. “She’s not here.”

“Then it’s a good thing I came~”

“I guess so… thank you…” Zawdra sighed, happily lowering her head. “And yes, I missed you.” 

“I missed you too.” Brinia sighed, releasing the forcefield into one powerful blast of wind, aimed directly at the creature, to give them a little bit of time to move out of its way. “I’ve missed all of you~” 

**_GROOOOOOOOAAAUUUWWRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!_ **

There was another heinously loud roar, and with it, a gust of sound propelled air that threatened to shatter buildings, growing louder with each screech. 

“How do we kill it?” Brinia scoffed, twirling the staff in her hands. “Do we know?” 

“I’ve fought alongside this thing.” Zawdra responded quickly, ignoring the confused and concerned look on the dryad’s face as she said that. “It’s mouth is soft, that’s all I know.” 

“Wait…” Brinia giggled, more than a little bit amused by this. “So it’s like you when I-”

“Shut up!!” Zawdra shouted at her, cheeks red hot in embarrassment, literally heating up and radiating light through her stony cheeks. “This isn’t the time for that!!” 

“Heat.” Brinia grinned excitedly, staring at Zawdra’s flushed cheeks. “With enough heat, maybe we could melt through it~!!”

Zawdra blushed even harder, putting her hand to her cheek and pouting. “You really got that from watching me blush?” 

“More like from looking at your pretty face.” Both girls blushed at that one. “But if I can get a hot enough attack straight into its mouth, it might do the trick.”

“You can’t do that.” Zawdra insisted, pointing out the flaw in Brinia’s plan. “The Hollow’s Heart doesn’t do fire-” 

“Sure it can.” Brinia grinned eagerly. “It just couldn’t used to.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Just trust me on this, okay?” Brinia quickly helped Zawdra up to her feet, wrapping her arms around the other woman for just a second. “Just… make sure Fennecca is safe?”

“Of course…” Zawdra smiled, her cheeks still red. “If she even still needs my protection, that is.” 

“And when you see her-” Brinia sighed, swallowing nervously. “Tell her I love her, please?” 

Zawdra nodded, flapping her wings and taking herself off the ground, knowing that this conversation would never stop if they both kept talking- before flying away.

**_And what’s this about fire magic?_ **

_Yeah… about that…_

**_What is it?_ **

_Well, you’re connecting to Eia now, aren’t you?_

**_Master, yes._ **

_And Eia is connected to me?_

**_Yes, of course she is._ **

_So that means you’re connected to me, right?_

**_That’s how this connection is still possible, obviously. But I don’t see how that answers my question._ **

_I just thought that if you’re connected to me via her, then maybe you’re connected to… her._

**_…Zaikana, you mean?_ **

_Yeah, her. The psycho with the flaming leash._

**_I don’t know if I can do that…_ **

_Have you tried?_

**_This is a new KIND of magic, so no… I haven’t tried._ **

_Well then there’s no better time than now~_

**_It’ll be weak, really weak, but yeah… I can do it. You’ll need to be close, though~_ **

_How close?_

**_Very close._ **

Brinia sighed, but resigned herself to doing what she needed to do, it was going to be dangerous, but so was everything with fighting a giant monster. The more she waited, the closer the creature got to turning thorn into the next village of Blossoms. 

While she was standing here discussing strategy with a magical staff, the monster had taken it upon itself to knock down an entire clocktower, and was already working on the next building over.

Fennecca couldn’t stand the sight of what was unfolding in front of her, watching it take down buildings with a minimal amount of effort, even if there weren’t people in there, those were people’s homes. 

“What do we do now?” She turned on her heel, spinning around to face the blacksmith, Kouzonn, in the room behind her as they hid in a nearby building, his workplace, to hide for a few moments. 

The mage was out of breath, and so was his assistant and apprentice, even as they kept coming up with a way to help fight back. “We can start with bombs.”

“Bombs?” Fennecca tilted her head, her ears flicking in confusion. 

“Bombs!!” The gnome girl quickly piped up, excitedly. “I’ve made bombs~” 

“Since when could you-” 

“I’m a tinkerer, remember?” Rhakkiza jumped to her feet, excitedly holding the little parcel out towards her minx friend. “We were planning on using it against the wendigo, but…” 

“Rhakkiza I love you!!” Fennecca grinned excitedly, swiping it out of her hands, much to the gnome girl’s dismay.

The blacksmith’s apprentice just blushed, fidgeting nervously. “I umm… I love… I-”

“Quiet you two.” Kouzonn silenced them, glaring at the door as it opened, welcoming an extremely unwelcome visitor for the second time in just a couple days. “It’s **her**.” 

“Alright look, I get that you hate me and all but my wrists are **literally** tied behind my back.” The glow of her charm had subsided, leaving the normally very strategically calm Cerilla as her normal self once again. “It already sucks that I have to leave these on to get literally anyone to trust me-” 

“You made that thing.” The blacksmith and mage jumped to his feet, eyes almost glowing angrily. “You brought that thing here, now make it stop.” 

Cerilla sighed, protesting the disrespect she was now receiving. “Now look, I may have made it, but it doesn’t answer to me anymore-” 

“Then who does it answer to?” 

“How in the world am I supposed to know?” 

“You’re a hobgoblin. You’re in leagues with Najistaire.” 

“Umm, hello?!” Cerilla scoffed, tilting her head backwards just slightly to show off the head of her collar. “What part of _I’m a slave and my master is the wendigo_ did people not understand?!”

Fennecca snarled angrily, pulling her blade from her hip and pointing it at the other woman, pressing the tip to her exposed neck. 

Cerilla, not expecting this, but not at all surprised, stood as still as she could- trying not to put herself further onto the blade, but also not provoke any further action from the girl. 

“That’s my sister’s sword, you know…” 

“And you’ve come to take it back?” 

“No…” Cerilla bit her lip, closing her eyes and sighing. “I came to get your help.” 

“Our help?” Fennecca scoffed. “And what have **you** done to help us?” 

“I went and I found the other quartermasters.” Cerilla blushed, really desperately hoping that Fennecca was adult enough to choose not to kill her. “Talltale is evacuating whatever citizens he can, Zoowellsck is out trying to knock down the forest barrier, and Darkstyle is about to fight that thing.” 

Fennecca blinked, taking the blade from the hobgoblin’s throat for just a moment, keeping it near but not pressed against her skin. “Eldrian’s about to fight that thing?” 

“I would hope it’s Eldrian.” Cerilla swallowed nervously. “Arleena can’t do much without that sword.” 

“Arleena?” Fennecca snarled, angry enough to press the blade against the hobgoblin’s throat again. “You’re a hobgoblin general, why aren’t you out there fighting this thing then? You made it, if you’re on our side all of a sudden, isn’t it your responsibility to help us take it down?”

“I’m trying my best-” 

“Then why won’t you **fight**?” 

“Because, I-” Cerilla flinched, her charm glowing just slightly as she screwed her eyes shut, bracing herself to be stabbed through the throat. “Because I’m pregnant!!!” 

Fennecca froze, gasping as she pulled the sword from Cerilla’s neck as quickly as she could. “You’re pregnant?” 

“Look, I’m sorry for **making** that thing. I would go and fight it if I could, but I can’t. I’m sorry.” Cerilla snarled, pulling on her restraints with her wrists. “I can’t risk losing another one of my master’s babies… not after Arleena-” 

“Look, I don’t know who Arleena is, or why you keep bringing her up.” Fennecca bit her lip, trying to avoid the implication of the wendigo getting its victims pregnant with respect to her mother, sliding the sword back into its sheath. “But you made it, and you had better tell us how to destroy it.” 

“It can be commanded.” Cerilla blushed, lowering her head nervously. “I made it to do my bidding when I lost my first servant, it’s a slave… It can be commanded.” 

“So you **can** command it?” 

“Maybe???” Cerilla shuffled nervously. “But like I said… I don’t want to get too close-” 

“Do you need to be close?” 

“Yes.” Cerilla nodded, confirming the facts to them. “It has a gem inside of its head, get close enough to it, and you can command it… but only if you’re powerful enough.”

“Powerful enough?” 

“Look, you may not like it but certain creatures are inherently more powerful than others, and it can sense that.” 

“So only **you** can command it?” 

“Me or somebody more powerful than me, yes.” 

“So we have to get you close to it.” Kouzonn stepped it, strapping his gear back onto his waist. “Fennecca gets those bombs to Darkstyle, Rhakkiza and I will get the hobgoblin close to that thing… and we’ll try not to let anything hurt her in the process.” 

“Thank you.” Cerilla smiled at him. “Trust me enough to take these cuffs off?” 

Kouzonn rolled his eyes, but nodded, gesturing for Rhakkiza to undo the restraints, which she did. 

“Alright.” Fennecca clutched the bombs to her chest. “Let’s go~” 

Brinia leapt towards the trees, her staff glowing as she quickly faded into it, teleporting from one tree to another in an attempt to get to her destination. 

_How much longer have I got?_

**_I can’t be sure, five minutes at most._ **

_Plenty of time then, yeah?_

**_Yeah. Let’s go with that._ **

There was a blinding flash of light across the sky as Brinia emerged from another tree, and quickly began falling. 

The barrier around the village formed a dome, and Alistora teleported right to the top of the dome without the creature noticing, and was now falling. A brief flash of light was an unfortunate side effect of her magic. It couldn’t be avoided, even if it did alert the golem to her presence, and it had. 

She spun the staff around above her head, with both hands, charging up a magical blast to send soaring straight into the monster’s face, **right there**. 

Brinia Alistora was right there, feet from the golem’s face as she took aim, sending a streak of fire straight into the swamp monster’s open jaws, wide, roaring, and ready to take a bite. 

_Oh fuck-_

Once again, a monstrously loud thud exploded through the air as the golem clenched its mouth shut, this time successfully capturing its prey inside, along with the brilliant flaming sphere being shot into it. It sure didn’t like that she was trying to burn it alive from the inside.

If she were Zawdra, she would have been dead in an instant, but she wasn’t- she could withstand just a little bit of her own magic, just enough to keep her alive while the golem erupted like a volcano. 

**_GROOOOOOOOAAAUUUUUUWWWWRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!_ **

There was another monstrous roar, and an explosion of light, fire, and sound as the creature spat her right back out, just about at quick as it had taken her in, breathing out a ferocious fiery ball of destruction onto the village below. Onto Brinia Alistora. 

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

**_Are you alright?_ **

_No, I’m not alright!! I’m on fire!!_

Brinia twirled the staff, coating herself in a gust of wind, and quickly extinguishing the flames around her. She was a plant after all, she was highly susceptible to flames. 

**_This is why we don’t do fire magic._ **

_Look, I know. You’re not helping, so just shut-_

“You look like shit, you know.” 

Brinia turned around, finding herself staring up at a vaguely familiar face, reaching out to help her to her feet. “Eldrian…” 

“Glad to see you’re still alive, Alistora.” The older dark elf smirked, hauling Brinia up to her feet, making sure she was okay. “What do we do?” 

“I have absolutely no idea… what’s the status?” 

“I’m here to help take this thing down. Talltale’s evacuating. Eiranee’s helping Zoowellsck take down the forest barrier-”

“And Arleena?” 

The elf quickly turned to look at her, face painted over in absolute confusion at hearing the name. Brinia clasped one hand over her mouth, kicking herself for blurting the girl’s name out to her parent. 

“Well that’s part of why I’m here, isn’t it?” They just smiled, trying to remain positive about it. “To avenge her~” 

“That was the night she died, wasn’t it?” Brinia blushed, wishing she could tell them everything that was going on, but knowing that it wasn’t her place. “About Arleena-” 

“We can talk later, promise.” Eldrian looked up at that thing, quickly realizing how out of their league it really was. “We have to slow that thing down.” 

“We have to destroy it.” Brinia remained optimistic, hopeful that she could take this down before it killed even one of her people. “We have no choice but to-”

“Mom?” 

That was Fennecca’s voice, rushing towards her- and just for a moment, Brinia let the world go. Just for a second, she forgot everything that was happening, dropping the staff onto the ground as she opened her arms to her daughter. She pulled her in close, she held her tight, and she squeezed. 

“Fennecca…” She was suddenly struggling to hold back her tears. “I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay, mom.” Fennecca pulled away, quickly grabbing the staff and shoving it into her guardian’s chest. “It’s okay…” 

Brinia smiled, more than happy to see that her pride and joy was still safe. She turned back to Eldrian, just briefly, before returning her gaze to her daughter. She couldn’t imagine how Eldrian felt the night that Arleena had supposedly died, and she didn’t want to imagine the same thing happening to her here and now. 

She was going to do absolutely everything in her power to keep Fennecca safe. 

“I can’t fight this thing alone.” She took a deep breath, holding Fennecca at arm’s length from her. “Do you want to fight?” 

“Yes.” The younger minx woman instantly jumped upon the opportunity. “Please.” 

“Your mom is looking for you, go find her and do whatever she says.” 

“But mom won’t let me-” 

“Tell her I said it’s okay.” Brinia smiled, giving Fennecca one last smile. “As long as you two are together, you’ll be okay.” 

“Yes, mom.” Fennecca grinned. “I’m on it.” 

“Atta girl.” 

“And these are for you!!” Fennecca turned to the elf quartermaster, tossing the small bundle of bombs towards them. “Explosives~” 

“That’s going to make a world of difference.” Darkstyle grinned eagerly, bow at their side. “Thanks kid~” 

“Don’t mention it~” 

“Alright alright, get going. Both of you.” Brinia interrupted, her grip tightening around the handle of her weapon. “We don’t have a lot of time…” 

“Mom!!” Fennecca snapped Brinia to attention, pointing across towards the rooftop of the building closest to the giant monster. “Look.” 

“Is that… Cerilla?” Brinia squinted, staring at the shapes on the rooftops. She gasped, quickly realizing what it was that her den mother was trying to do. “She’s trying to take control of it.” 

“Is that a bad thing?” 

“I don’t know, hold on…” 

She couldn’t tell what was going on across the skyline, but she knew that whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. The golem had seemingly stopped in its tracks, and was now just… staring at the hobgoblin, standing on the rooftop. Its creator was trying to take control of it again. 

They were all staring at hoping for the hobgoblin to succeed now, and that was a rare thing here in Thorn. Brinia clasped her hands together, holding them to her lips as she prayed for Cerilla to successfully retake control. 

She didn’t realize just how destructive the forty foot tall golem had been doing until it stopped. The ground wasn’t shaking, stones and boulders weren’t being flung all over the place, and buildings weren’t currently collapsing in its wake. 

It was strangely calm, and Brinia was glad for it. For just a moment, the feeling of hope in her heart was almost as strong as the heartbreaking terror that came upon her face the moment she saw the creature raise its fist to flatten its former master into the ground beneath the building she stood upon. 

“No-”

Brinia reached out, desperate to somehow hopefully stop the creature from afar before it pulverized Cerilla into a puddle of guts and viscera, but right when she did was when an arrow flew past her, fresh from the bow of Eldrian Darkstyle. 

**_GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

The creature finally let out a ferocious scream of pain, the bomb equipped arrow exploding on contact with its fist, sending it stumbling backwards. 

Whatever Cerilla was planning, it didn’t work. The swamp golem wouldn’t respond to her, not anymore- and why should it, she’s a slave. 

“Cerilla!!” Brinia stumbled forward, able to feel just how sore her feet were as she began to run towards the site of the explosion, scanning the rooftop to make sure that everyone was still alright, but unable to see through the smoke and rubble. “No…” 

She only had a little bit longer, minutes at most, but she couldn’t just let her die- she had to make sure she was safe. This might have been her fault, but the former imperial had changed, Alistora could tell. 

She swung the staff around, magically summoning an updraft strong enough to propel her into the sky and beyond, safely landing on her feet on top of the crumbling rooftop. “Cerilla?” 

“Alistora?” The hobgoblin coughed, knocked onto her back from the explosion, stumbling to her feet. “Why are you here?” 

“I came because of the monster!!” Brinia turned around, scanning the skyline to make sure that the creature wasn’t still targeting them. “What happened?” 

“I couldn’t command it.” Cerilla coughed, struggling to keep balanced as the floor beneath her feet shook. “It wouldn’t listen.” 

“We have to get you out of here-”

“We have to get everyone out of here, Alistora.” Cerilla shook her head. “We can’t kill it.”

“Yes we can.” Brinia protested, never one to back out of a fight. “I know we can.” 

The building they were standing atop began to shake and crumble beneath them, slowly swaying from side to side, threatening to completely collapse, taking the four of them with it. This fight was practically lost to them already. 

That thing was still standing, and it didn’t seem to be prone to falling over anytime soon. They could hit it, they could weaken it, but they couldn’t destroy it. The city was shaking beneath its feet, and it was hurting people. It was hurting everyone Brinia had ever loved. 

“Brinia.” Cerilla stood up, holding the other woman at arms reach. “Look at what we’re up against, we can’t even bring it to its knees.” 

“I can see what we’re up against, Cerilla. I just-” Brinia looked back over at the beast, seeing what it was that it was focused on fighting. “Zawdra?” 

Nightingale can tell when things weren’t going to plan, so she decided to improvise. Brinia’s eyes didn’t deceive her, that was definitely her former partner buzzing around the golem’s head, trying to distract it. 

But this time it didn’t seem to be working, the monster used to be fully focused on the gargoyle, but now it had its eyes set on a different target, Cerilla. 

Brinia’s heart ached watching Nightingale desperately hover around the creature’s head. Zawdra was a protector, **the lady protector** , it was her job to protect, and protect she would. If anyone was going to die today, it was going to be her. Zawdra selflessly refused to let a single life end until she was done in first, and that terrified Alistora. That was the last thing she wanted. 

She was fighting so hard, taking so many hits, getting weaker and slower. If she kept this up, she was going to get herself killed. 

Brinia took a deep breath, holding the staff to her chest as she turned around, facing Cerilla. “What do we do?” 

“Excuse me?” Cerilla’s eyes flickered back and forth between Brinia and the monster. “Why are you asking **me**?” 

“Because you’re a better leader than I am!!” Brinia shouted at her, frustrated tears in her eyes as she was forced to look into her own weaknesses. “There, I said it!! I can’t **lead** , I’m only good at fighting on my own, but I can’t fight that thing on my own!!”

“And why should **I** put mine and my kitten’s lives on the line to help you fight that thing, all for a people that hate me and everything that I am?!” 

“You created that thing, didn’t you?!” 

“But I can’t control it anymore!!” Cerilla choked angrily, shouting back at her. “I’m not the same person I used to be, don’t you understand?! It won’t listen to the person I’ve become!! It might be my child, but I’m not it’s mother anymore, I’ve changed!!” 

Brinia tensed up at the mention of motherhood, looking over at the creature in a way that she hadn’t before. It respected power above all else, but Cerilla didn’t have the power to command it like she used to, she’d changed. “That’s why it won’t listen to you…” 

“I’ve been running around getting everyone into action, I’ve told you all I can about it, I’ve tried speaking to it. I’ve done everything short of jumping into its mouth and trying to destroy it myself- and I am not about to go and get myself killed trying to destroy it just because you think I’m at fault for creating it!!” Cerilla’s hand instinctively found its way to her belly, clutching at her chainmail armor. “I may have brought it to life, but I am not the one commanding it, I have other things to protect. I’m not an imperial officer anymore, I’m a mistress.”

Cerilla choked on her own words, scared out of her mind just like the rest of the village was, just hoping to make it out of here alive. “I am expecting. Just because I’m a hobgoblin doesn’t make me any less of a person. My master may be a wendigo, and my baby may be just as much of a monster as the golem is, but I’m still a woman trying to protect my unborn child. I won’t let you force me into taking that thing head on any more than you’d try to throw any other pregnant woman into that thing’s jaws, hobgoblin or not. I am **not** fighting that thing.”

“Then tell me how to take that thing on for you.” Brinia stumbled forward across the still shaking rooftop, taking Cerilla’s hand from her belly and holding it in both of her burnt leafy palms. “You’re a mother, yes, but you’re the den mother too… I need you to tell me what to do, please…” 

Cerilla paused, curling her sharp fingers around Brinia’s as she held the dryad’s hand. Her cheeks were glowing with anger, but her charm wasn’t, at least not yet. She didn’t have to fight, but she could. “Heat alone can’t melt that thing, but it can weaken it. What you need to be doing is trying to bust the golem’s head open, that’s where the gem is hidden.”

“The gem?” 

“The red glow in its eyes, that comes from the gem.” Cerilla took her other hand and pointed off towards the monster’s head, currently distracted by Zawdra, having taken drastic measures to keep the beast’s attention off of the hobgoblin it once served. “Get ahold of that thing, and you can control it.”

“Control it how?”

“Don’t worry about that yet, just focus on trying to get it out. We don’t have a lot of… time.” 

“No…” Brinia’s heart dropped in her chest as she looked over at the monster, trying to figure out what had given her sister pause. The monster was staring straight at them, and Zawdra was nowhere in sight. “It couldn’t have…”

↞✶↠

But it really was as bad as Alistora imagined it. 

Putting this thing down was proving to be far more difficult that they had thought it would be, and Zawdra had expected it to be an effort in vain from the very start. 

"Alright you…" Zawdra took a deep breath, soaring into the air to help distract the golem from above. "Let's go again~"

The swamp monster might have gotten bigger and stronger over the years, but so had Zawdra. A decade ago she would have been done in by a few swings of the sword, but not anymore.

She might not have the strategic might that Cerilla possessed, but she was clever. The swamp golem was anything but clever, it was mindless and brutish. 

_Are you proud of what you've done?_

Zawdra glanced across the skyline, following the golem's gaze to find Cerilla, standing on the rooftops trying to command the monster she herself had created.

_Are you satisfied yet?_

Cerilla had gotten exactly what she wanted. No one in the Eternal Hollow was safe from her, and she was well hated for it. 

This is what happens when you're born from hatred. You hate. You destroy. 

Of course the creature doesn't know love and compassion, it's never been shown love and compassion. 

_You've never been shown love and compassion, have you?_

She couldn't fathom what might have been going through the monster's head. The poor thing probably didn't even know it was a monster. 

This wasn't the beast's fault, it was just doing what it was told. Like it's supposed to. 

Someone was making the golem do this. This wasn't really the golem's doing, was it?

As much destruction as the creature was doing, Nightingale couldn't help but feel sorry for the monster. Sure, it had turned on the woman it once served and fallen into the hands of some other cruel master, but it just didn't seem fair to put the creature down just for following orders.

_You're just a good dog with a bad owner, aren't you?_

As naive as Brinia might have seemed for trying to stop and talk to the monster before it started its rampage, it really might have worked. 

It didn't belong to her anymore, but the mind of a living creature can't be so easily changed. It doesn't still serve her, but it was created with a hatred for her enemies, and it surely still held that hatred inside of itself. 

It hated the Eternal Hollow. It hated Izona for everything she had wrought. It hated the wendigo and everything she stood for, it hated everything she owned, down to her slaves. 

And like a dog, it hated its master for abandoning it.

Zawdra calmed herself, putting her blade away. Cerilla might not be able to the creature, but maybe someone else could. 

Cinna's training wasn't going to help her here, and neither was Cerilla's raw strength and willpower. She kept her blade sheathed, knowing she couldn't cut through it anyway. 

Even as Nightingale flew circles around its head, it kept its eyes on Cerilla, intent on smashing her first. The hobgoblin couldn't reach the creature, but maybe she could. 

They were cousins, cut from the same cloth, born from the same world. They were literally made from the same material. 

The monster didn't even notice Zawdra as she approached, and as it raised its hand to hurl some horrendous boulder towards the hobgoblin in an attempt to crush her, Nightingale took this moment to try and reach the creature.

She landed on its hand, using her wings to remain balanced as she stood there, trying to grab the creature's attention.

"You can hear me, yeah?" Zawdra spoke to the beast, having safely reached the monster. "You understand me?"

The ground beneath them had been shaky, but as she spoke to the creature, it stilled.

The golem held steady, its face pointed towards the rooftop in front of it as its glowing red eyes slowly moved to glare at the gargoyle standing on its fist.

"I know you can't speak with words, but I can hear you through your actions, and I can tell you're not happy."

Quiet, the beast was unearthly quiet as Zawdra spoke, buying time for Cerilla and Brinia to figure out their next moves, but hopefully they could see what Nightingale was trying to do here.

"You remember Cerilla, but do you remember me?" Nightingale continued, fearlessly steady upon the clay beast's fist as she spoke. "We've fought together, you and me- and those cyclops soldiers, remember them?"

Strangely enough, the creature seemed to be responding to her words. The ground shook again as it moved, but this time there were no meteors being hurled across the sky. 

The swamp golem brought its own fist towards its face, bringing Zawdra closer to its glowing crimson eyes, face to face with the behemoth.

"You do remember me." Zawdra smiled, loosening up as she stood there on top of its fist, strangely peaceful as the other elemental just stared at her, listening intently. 

"I think you should stop." She stayed steadfast, trying to get control of the situation. "I don't want to hurt you, but I have to protect these people." 

The creature itself began to shake, knocking free loose rocks and stones from its skin as it glared at her, growing angry.

"She's not gonna hurt you!!" Zawdra turned slightly, pointing directly towards Cerilla off in the distance. "She's not in control anymore, you don't have to destroy her-"

The golem let out a low growl, pebbles falling from its face as it opened its mouth, unhappy with the gargoyle, but staying otherwise completely still. 

"I know you have your orders, but please listen." Zawdra pleaded with the beast. "You'd be safer if you worked with us, you wouldn't have to destroy anymore, you can protect instead."

The lady protector smiled. She took great pride in what she did, coming from nothing to become the guardian of the people. "I protect people now, and I think you should too."

The swamp golem, now mere feet from Zawdra's reach, pulled her closer to its head, the eyes illuminating her in a bright red glow as it opened its eyes and directed them at her.

"That's it, let's call it a day and stop this insanity." Zawdra spread her wings just slightly, reaching out and pressing her hand to the golem's head, directly between its slowly closing eyes. "You don't have to be a dog anymore… let me set you free."

As she stood there, still smiling at the creature, her hand pressed to its head, the swamp golem almost had a look of dread in its eyes. It was like it was sad and desperate, almost sorrowful. 

The entire forest echoed with the sound of a large impact, like two giant stones smashing into each other. 

Everyone watching was instantly filled with shock and horror as the creature snapped its jaws shut around its own fist, swallowing a part of itself whole.

And Zawdra, standing on top of the creature's hand as she tried to get through to it, was left helpless and unable to escape as it snatched her away into its powerful maw, eating her in a single mouthful.

Fennecca, daughter of the lady protector and the angelic warrior, was struck the hardest. She stood there, hoping and praying that her mother would safely fly back out the moment it reopened its jaws.

But that didn't happen. The swamp golem's jaws snapped back open, and with them delivered a horrendous howl that shook the entire forest, but Zawdra was nowhere in sight. 

↞✶↠

“Alistora, I-” Cerilla tried to keep the dryad calm, attempting to console her mid battle. “I’m sorry, but she doesn’t have much time either. We need to get moving.” 

“I’ll go get her.” Brinia turned, facing the human blacksmith, Kouzonn, as he stepped up to the ledge of the roof. “You said heat could weaken it, right?” 

“I did, yes- but we don’t have that kind of firepower right now.” 

“I do.” He scoffed, trying to reassure them of his plan. “Don’t let Rhakkiza out of your sight, if she has a hair missing off of her head when I get back, you’re dead meat.”

Cerilla scoffed. “And how are you planning on taking that thing on?” 

“Just watch me.” 

Kouzonn stood there, staring the creature down, the red glow of the flaming strands in his hands as bright as the creature’s eyes as he summoned forth his power. It clearly took what was left of his magical might to do so, but within a few moments Kouzonn had forged a flaming lasso in his hands, worthy of a mighty opponent like the swamp golem. 

He cracked the strands of fire forward across the sky, tethering himself to the creature’s arm as it began to swing towards the very building they stood upon, and swinging across the skyline. 

Cerilla bit down on her lip with what few fangs she had left, grabbing ahold of the dryad’s hand and pulling her towards the next rooftop, snapping her attention away from the pretty but distracting lightshow of fire and magic as Kouzonn darted across the village, making a beeline for the monster’s waiting and hungry maw. 

Brinia pulled herself away, just for a moment, pointing the staff out towards the man, sending a beam of radiant white energy his way, bathing himself in a protective magical light, hoping desperately it would be enough to help save him. 

↞✶↠

“Mom!!” Fennecca shrieked in horror, staring up at the beast in denial, having just watched it swallow her mother, her protector, Zawdra Nightingale, whole. 

The elven quartermaster was behind her, keeping her at bay as they watched the town’s blacksmith, Kouzonn, quickly being devoured by the beast as well. 

“Fennecca stop, if Kouzonn can’t get in there and save her, there’s nothing we can do that we haven’t already.” Eldrian tried their damned best to hold Fennecca back, but was having immense trouble with it despite the girl’s broken wrist. “I’m out of bombs, we need to evacuate with the rest of the village.” 

“Not without her!!” Fennecca swiped at the older villager with her feet, kicking them away from her as she lunged towards the beast on foot, dashing towards the golem’s foot. 

Fennecca had no plan, nothing that she could do but slash at it, and slash at it she did. The fingers of her still able paw wrapped around the sword’s handle, the blade glowing an unmistakably bright shade of blue as it sent a wave of destructive power soaring through the air in front of her, ripping through the air like a sword swipe across the entire horizon. 

The ground shook beneath her feet as the power of the single magical sword strike managed to actually find footing in the creature’s thick hide, chipping away at its shell. 

“Heh.” She wasn’t sure how she did that, but she was proud of it. 

Though she wasn’t quite able to get so lucky again, she spun, but the weapon did nothing, swiping through the air and cutting uselessly against the atmosphere. 

The creature shrieked, and she tumbled backwards, dropping the magical weapon onto the ground in front of her, falling onto her ass as the golem turned the glowing light of its eyes onto her. Fennecca struggled to get back up to her feet without the use of both arms, watching in horror as the creature broke a boulder from its stony hide and sent it soaring straight towards her. 

**_Bang!!!_ **

Fennecca shut her eyes before it came, trying to block out the sight of her incoming death before it got to her, but the next sound she heard was the sound of something very big and heavy slamming into the ground on either side of her, followed by… nothing.

She sat there, eyes closed as she waited for an impact that never came, before feeling something furry, almost feathery, rub up against her cheek, trying to nudge her to attention. 

“That didn’t hit you, did it?” 

Fennecca opened up her eyes to the sound of an unfamiliar voice, facing the sight of a woman standing in between her and the golem, reaching towards her with her hand. 

She grabbed a hold of it, at the first chance she could, unsure of whether she had died until she saw either half of the boulder on each side of her. Whoever this woman was, she had saved her life, slicing what was to become her tombstone in half before it could crush her. 

“I…” Fennecca mumbled nervously, followed by some oversized chicken monster as she got her bearings, seeing the magical blade in this other woman’s hand. “Who are you?”

“Arleena!!” The coyote girl turned to face the other voice, just in time to see her mother run up to this new woman, jumping into her and pulling the smaller adult into a hug. “You’re here.” 

“We had to make a stop first, but Hawkney and I came as soon as we could.” Arleena smiled at her, gently pulling away from the dryad’s arms. “Is this your girl?” 

“Yes. Yes she is.” Brinia turned towards Fennecca, who was being pointed at by Arleena’s blade, quickly rushing to her daughter’s side. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

“I’m fine, she… she saved me-”

“Thank you.” Brinia shot her eyes back to her elven sister, tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much-” 

“Arleena… is that you?” The older elf parent sounded almost heart-broken to be saying her name, staring the wraith directly into the eyes. “You’re here…”

“I…” Arleena mumbled back, as nervously as could be. Her grey cheeks were very much blushing as she looked up at her former parent, not having seen or spoken in nearly a decade. “Yeah… I am…” 

Eldrian just smiled at her, a million things to say in their head, but only one that was important enough to say right here and now. “I’m so proud of you…” 

The light in Arleena’s eyes flickered back on for the first time in years, the happiest of smiles creeping across her face as she stared at the one who raised her, never happier to hear Eldrian’s voice speaking those very words to her. “Thank you…” 

“This still isn’t the time, I’m sorry.” Brinia held the staff in both hands as she stood up, staring up at the fifty foot tall monstrosity looming over them, writhing around in immense pain, sending boulders tumbling from its skin as it thrashed mindlessly at nothing. “Please…” 

The swamp golem’s stomach was glowing, caught in a burning inferno from the inside, Kouzonn’s flames, his magic. The former quartermaster had gotten inside and unleashed a hellish fireball upon the creature from within. 

But it wasn’t enough. Not to take it down. Whatever hope Brinia still had quickly faded away as the hot red glow subsided, being put out from inside of the belly of the beast. 

There went what little hope Brinia had of melting it, there was no amount of weakening it from within that the dryad could do at this point, not if she couldn’t strike through its sturdy exterior.

The tip of the staff crackled with a furious magic, held tight in Brinia’s hands as she unleashed a lightning bolt, sending it streaking across the sky and striking futilely against the grounded husk of the creature’s natural earthen armor. Nothing. There was nothing she could do, and she couldn’t feel more useless. 

_Okay okay, there has to be something we can do._

**_Brinia, I can’t keep this up for much longer-_ **

_But there’s still time, surely there’s something we can still use!!_

**_I’m running out of energy, Alistora… I need to recharge-_ **

_Then use someone else’s power, please!! How about Tishula?? she has magic, doesn’t she??_

**_That thing is MADE OF stone, it won’t work!!_ **

_Then what about the charms, Izona’s charm shrinks her, maybe we can do that-_

**_That power is not mine to use, Alistora… All I have left is an extension of your own power. I can’t-_ **

_But there has to be SOMETHING we can do to stop it-_

**_Alistora…_ **

_Please, I can’t just let it digest her, I can’t let it destroy everyone._

**_Alistora._ **

_I can’t give up now, I’m the only one left who can do this-_

“Alistora.”

Brinia felt her tears running down her cheeks as she turned around, suddenly filled with hope at the sound of that voice. 

**Her voice.**

“Eia.” 

The wendigo stood there, gaze fixed on the fight ahead of her, eyes locked onto the glowing orbs of light the golem stared her down with. The swamp golem looked a little bit busted up, but not nearly as badly as Eia seemed to be. 

She was covered in cuts and bruises, her cloak and the entirety of her garb completely shredded off of her, leaving her totally naked. But even as she stood there, her paw extended towards the dryad, missing half of one of her antlers, she had a look of determination in her eyes, visible even through that mask she wore over her face. 

“Give me the staff.” 

Brinia gasped, gripping the staff as close to her own chest as she could, not willing to hand it over, not ready to give it up. She had only just gotten her magic powers back, she wasn’t going to let this monster take it away from her again. She swallowed nervously, angrily grinding her teeth as she spoke. “Eia…” 

“Slave.” 

Eia clearly didn’t appreciate being talked back to, not bothering to look at the dryad as she demanded the girl’s cooperation. “Do as you’re told.” 

Brinia felt an angry fire burning up inside of her throat, her already singed hands squeezing onto the staff as tight as she could, unable to hand it over. 

“Last warning.” Eia reached up with her other paw, pulling her skull mask from her face so that she could look down at the kneeling dryad, a stern but caring look on her face. “Give me the staff.” 

Alistora felt her grip on the staff loosening ever so slightly at her words, losing just a little bit of herself in a single moment. She sobbed, hands trembling as she lifted the staff upwards. Her tears gently fell onto the skin of her thighs beneath her as she presented it to the wendigo, disentangling her protective fingers from her magic weapon, handing her solemn duty as the forest’s protector out to her.

“Yes, Master.”

The words carried with them a feeling of relief, a weight being lifted off of her shoulders. Her finger splayed subserviently as the staff sat in the palm of her open hands, ready to be taken. 

She lowered her head, giving a piece of herself to the wendigo, letting Eia curl her fingers around the Hollow’s Heart and pull it straight from the archfey’s grasp, a piece of the dryad now hers. 

“On your knees.” The wendigo took the staff into her grasp, gently reaching down towards her slave with her other paw, mask in hand. “I want you to protect this for me.” 

Brinia slowly looked up to Eia with her still crying eyes, watching the wendigo gently place her mask upon the dryad’s face, giving Alistora a piece of hers in return, to hide behind for protection. 

Alistora’s open hands laid flat upon the earth beneath her, tears flowing from her eyes behind the mask, somewhere that no one could see them.

She sobbed, weak but shamelessly, never so happy to give up in her life. A burden had been lifted from her, raising her heart back up inside of her chest, filling her with just a little bit of hope that everything might be okay in the end. 

“Thank you…” 

There was another ferocious roar that followed, the sound of which didn’t matter to Brinia, the only thing that mattered now was her, Eia Madaerie. 

She held the staff in her clawed hands, drawing on its magical power in ways that Brinia couldn’t quite do with the limited power the staff had given her, she bathed herself in a radiant white light, like a glowing wind swirling around her, radiating from her skin. 

Like Arleena had before her, Eia made quick work of the massive chunk of stone being hurled her way, bigger and heavier than the one that threatened to crush the dryad’s daughter. 

Empowered by the magic of the staff, the wendigo swung at it with an otherworldly force, shattering it to bits in the air, keeping it from hurting any of the people behind her, bride or not. 

That fierce look in her eyes, illuminated by the moonlight, was clearer than ever now that she had no mask to hide herself behind. She pointed the tip of her wicked instrument towards the swamp golem, whispering incantations to herself as she unleashed her signature magic abilities upon it, like none other could. 

“Zophiel’s Chain~” Eia whispered it, but it was there.

The rings upon her fingers began to glow with a gorgeous light, silvery and white, extending into the magical staff and showering itself upon the golem’s body from below, encompassing it in a powerful magic ray. 

The beast stiffened, the magical light overpowering it, coalescing into magical radiant chains that quickly enveloped it, wrapping around the golem ten times over and binding the creature’s arms to its torso, unable to thrash or attack. 

Alistora’s eyes went wide, staring up at the sight unfolding in front of her. She was really doing it, she was fighting the swamp golem. She hadn’t run off and abandoned the village after all. 

She was going to keep her word. 

Eia closed her eyes, waiting for a moment of calm to guide her, helping her along the way. The swamp golem struggled, but failed to break through its chains just yet. The wendigo pointed the staff up at the creature, waiting for the world around her to help guide her aim, telling her exactly where to attack. 

The tip of the staff slowly drifted upwards and upwards, far exceeding the height of the swamp golem as it rose, soaring up to the top of the dome and pointing itself into the skylight above.

Eia couldn’t help but smile at that, knowing that she almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to think of that as she sent another bright white lighting bolt streaking across the night’s sky. 

It slammed into the roof of the forest dome, striking the trees directly above the monster, the very same chunks of nearly destroyed wooden pillars that Brinia had descended from now breaking apart and crumbling, falling down towards the earth below, raining building sized chunks of wood and debris directly on top of the monster’s head, humbling it for the very first time. 

At any other time, Brinia would have cursed herself for not thinking of it, but not right now. Right now all she could do was sit still and kneel, hoping desperately that the wendigo could destroy this thing. 

And it looked like she was right to do so. The forest barrier crumbled downwards, chunks of the trees above slamming on top of the swamp golem, knocking it forward, bound arms unable to catch itself, onto its knees. 

Alistora had barely been able to damage the thing, but Eia had brought the creature to its knees, and suddenly the dryad felt justified in handing over that part of her to the wendigo. If the cost of watching the monster who had conquered her bringing the enemy that threatened the lives of herself and her family to its knees was doing the same, then Alistora was more than willing to kneel. 

It wasn’t over, but everyone in the crowd was quickly feeling just a little bit of relief. Even if it wasn’t the best idea, Brinia could hear countless citizens that had gathered quickly beginning to return, eager to watch the monster that had destroyed their homes be humbled by a superior force. 

Fennecca was right there with her, on her knees at her mother’s side. She held Brinia’s sore hands in her paws, grabbing them tight and refusing to let her go. The minx girl hated the wendigo, and she might very well have been against this idea just a few minutes ago, but right now she was content with shutting the hell up and letting the fiend do her best against the tumbling colossus. 

Brinia squeezed her daughter’s hands, just glad to know that she was safe. Fennecca was in good hands, even if those hands weren’t hers. 

She could see the gnome girl, Kouzonn’s apprentice, Rhakkiza, standing behind Fennecca. She was turned away, unable to watch what was unfolding as she buried herself in Cerilla’s chest behind her. It was a new sight, but it was strangely heartwarming to see any random citizen of Thorn leaning against a hobgoblin for security and protection, especially knowing that it was this hobgoblin. It was Cerilla. 

But the swamp golem cared not for whatever heartwarming sight stood in front of it, it was a creature destined to bring destruction to those that crossed its path. It was not about to let some little bunny do it in, not like this, not on its knees with hands bound behind its back. 

The sound of the magical chains that bound it snapping to pieces rang through the village before the echoes of it falling to its knees even had the chance to subside. 

Eia ran towards it, staff in hand. That thing was going to swing at it with her arm, and the only way to keep the crowd of loved ones behind her from ending up in its destructive waste was to get closer. It continued to dawn on Brinia just how seriously that Eia was taking this, watching her lunge towards the beast and its incoming attack. She wasn’t just thinking about herself, but about collateral damage as well. She was thinking about the village. 

The golem’s fist slammed into the earth beneath her feet, but with a flash, Eia was suddenly gone. The streams of glowing white light converted themselves into a powerful wind, much like Brinia had done herself. It converged into an updraft, carrying Eia upwards with the wind, into the sky above the golem’s head. 

It was a more than impressive escape maneuver, but the crowd below hardly had enough time to notice Eia soaring upwards before the wendigo was suddenly soaring back down, striking the monster directly in its giant earthy head. 

She slammed her staff directly onto the creature’s scalp, shaving off giant hunks of stone and rock and sending them falling with her to the ground below. She dove back down to the city streets, landing directly in the same spot she had just left, landing now on top of the golem’s head. 

The Hollow’s Heart couldn’t manage to break the creature’s head into pieces, but when it came to Eia’s sheer overwhelming strength and the golem’s softer, more damaged hand, the staff went right through it. 

**_GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

That wasn’t the creature’s normal roar, that was a scream of pain, wild intense pain. 

The world around them shattered with that roar. Brinia turned to make sure everyone was safe, desperate and eager to protect them while simultaneously stuck to that very spot where she knelt.

She could see many many others in the crowds behind them as well. Yerb Talltale was there, the old dwarf man as protective as he’d ever been as he urged people to back away and find shelter. 

Rahllita Zoowellsck was not so easily moved, either by her fellow quartermaster’s orders or by Eia’s seeming acts of bravery. She was almost seething, annoyed to find herself at the mercy of the wendigo as Madaerie tried to topple the giant monster for them, but she neither said nor did anything about it. 

Arleena actually stood in front of Eldrian, ready to protect not only them, but the dryad as well. The dark elf turned wraith was ready to protect anyone and everyone around her without hesitation, their knight. 

Eldrian Darkstyle just seemed proud of their daughter, smiling at her with tears in their eyes. They out of everyone might have been the only other person in the many hundreds of villagers whose eyes weren’t locked onto Eia.

But Fennecca’s eyes were on the swamp golem, staring straight at its maw, those jaws that it used to swallow Nightingale whole. Zawdra Nightingale was still in there somewhere, along with the former quartermaster, Kouzonn, who had gone in to protect and save her. This didn’t seem to help ease Fennecca’s fears however, she still clung to her mother’s hand, desperately wishing she could do something, but capable of nothing at all with her broken unarmed wrist. 

_Zawdra, please… Hang in there just a little bit longer…_ Brinia’s grip tightened around her daughter’s paw, clinging onto her for support as she watched Eia rush the beast. _If not for me, for her…_

She did so much to protect her family, and Nightingale was just as much Brinia’s family as her daughter. The coyote woman shook, her aching paws in her mother’s hand as she watched, hoping. 

The wendigo let go of the staff, keeping it firmly planted through the monster’s hand, pinning it into place in the ground. She ran, quickly beginning to scale the golem’s arm on all fours, bounding towards its shoulder like a rabbit as the Hollow’s Heart immobilized the creature’s paw.

The swamp golem remained intent on destroying the wendigo even while its hand was staked to the streets below. It heaved its gargantuan arm upwards, breaking free of the hand that held it down. 

Its stony wrist cracked and broke, snapping its hand from its arm as it struggled back up to its feet. The stony paw remained bolted to the ground below, now severed from the arm that Eia was now rapidly scaling. The swamp golem, now more than ever, was slow, brutish, and highly displeased. 

The monster might have left bruises and scars on the archfey earlier in the night, but right now Eia was completely untouchable.

The golem’s severed hand began to lift from the ground below, soaring upwards towards the beast’s body, directly towards Eia. Once she was mere feet from the creature’s head, she stood, holding her hands outwards for the magical staff to come to her, which it did.

She raised the swamp golem’s curled fist from the ground, still attached to the staff as she magically retrieved the Hollow’s Heart from below, and she swung the creature’s own fist directly into the back of its head. 

She spun, catching the staff with both hands as it arrived to her, and slammed the gigantic stone hand into the swamp golem’s head, shattering the softened and damaged stone hand to pieces and sending the golem tumbling forward, right back onto its stubby hands and knees, collapsed to the ground for the second time, now beneath the wendigo’s fuzzy clawed feet. 

“ **Bow**.” 

The monstrous and feared wendigo stood atop the golem’s shoulder, much like a miniature devil would, and uttered a single command, a single word to force it under her will. 

And the power of that one word rang throughout the entirety of Thorn in an instant, sweeping across the masses like a shockwave with the strength and confidence it carried, wielding that command like a weapon against them all.

And the swamp golem bowed. 

Alistora very nearly bowed, her hands uncurling themselves from Fennecca’s and clasping together in front of her lips, pressed against the mask that Eia had placed upon her face. 

“Please…” Tears fell from the dryad’s eyes, staring up at the wendigo above as she prayed for Eia’s victory, as she prayed **to** Eia to protect her people, to protect **her**.

Fennecca retracted her paw from her mother’s hand, not needing it anymore. Fennecca didn’t need her anymore, she needed Eia. They all needed Eia. 

Weak. Brinia never felt so happy to be weak for the wendigo. It no longer mattered why any of this was happening, just that it was. If Eia did this, she would no longer have any room to argue, and she would welcome that. 

If Eia could prove herself capable of it, Brinia would have no reason to think that her master wouldn’t be able to protect them. “Save them and you can have me… I promise…” 

Thick vines and leaves sprouted from the swamp golem’s body like it was soil, quickly and succinctly restraining the beast to the ground below once more, thanks to the magic of the staff. The creature bowed to her, unable to get back up, unable to move, unable to fight. 

Eia held the staff upwards in both hands, commanding the power of the forest around her to create life, causing the leafy vines to overpower the monster, bringing it down one final time. 

And there was nothing that the swamp golem could do about it. 

**_GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_**

All the beast could do was scream. 

The earth shook, not beneath the weight of the swamp golem’s power, but Eia’s.

Like she had before, she summoned forth the power to raise the forest from the soil below, sprouting a single gargantuan tree, freeing it from the world beneath them. 

It grew directly through the creature’s open screaming mouth, bursting the golem’s head to pieces as it soared into the sky above, cracking it open from the inside, where it was weak and without its stony shell to protect it. 

A magical red light, ferocious and glowing, rose into the sky like a star, shooting from the ground like a volcano, exploding into a brilliant explosion of radiant light and triumphant force above the village, shaking the heavens and hells around them. 

Everyone stopped, staring up at the five story tree that sprouted above them, watching the winds shake the leaves from its branches, littering to the earth, taller than any single building directly atop the spot where the swamp golem finally dies. 

The wendigo, of all people, had just slain the monster, and nobody said a thing to undermine that.

Brinia stayed on her knees, desperately glancing around in an attempt to locate her new hero, hearing her voice ring out from above.

“Now that that’s settled~” 

The leaves quickly cleared with the winds, allowing the people of Thorn below to see the wendigo, Eia Madaerie, taking a bow atop the tree that she had used to slaughter the monster, holding the magical red crystal in her clawed, ring clad, paw. 

“Hello, Thorn… it’s nice to meet you.”

Silence. There was nothing from the masses below, no screams or cheers, just silence.

“Before we continue, let us make sure we get one thing clear.”

Eia was not afraid to speak, Eia was afraid of nothing. 

“Your guardians, your **protectors** , try as they might, fought fiercely to defend you, but through no fault of their own, failed you.” Eia went on, addressing each and every ear in the audience, round or pointed. “But not I… let there be no doubt who saved you all this day, it was me.”

Brinia could feel the eyes of the crowd behind locking in on her, rather than Eia, almost like they were wanting and hoping that she’d do something to defend them from the monster above them, but she couldn’t.

“Late to the party maybe, sure… but I’d argue that it’s also no fault of my own that I and my brides have been forced to live in exile, out in the fog wastes on the edge of the forest.”

Eia stood up, pointing **her** magical staff at the dead husk of the mighty titan beneath her. 

“I’ve been to the village of Blossoms, I saw what terror and damage it wrought, I was there. People died, homes were destroyed, enemies were made- and you know what?”

She seemed to wait for a response, but it was a rhetorical question. 

“I’ve **felt** your pain, quite literally, through my brides.” She held up her hand, her rings glimmering ever so slightly. “And I think I would like for that pain to never happen again~” 

She held out not the magical crystal, but the staff, out in front of her so that everyone could see it within her claws. 

“So if there’s anyone out there who thinks that I, the wendigo, should not be the rightful owner of this staff, feel free to step forth now, because now is the time to do it~” 

She spun the staff in her hand, pointing it towards the many citizens below, waiting on them to answer her. 

“Are there any objections?” 

The forest was silent for a good few moments as the entire village looked on in awe. None. There were no objections, and she knew there wouldn’t be. Nobody could argue with her, not now.

“I didn’t think so~”

She leapt, soaring down from atop the five story tree tower back to the streets below, staff in one hand and magical red crystal in the other, landing safely on her feet. 

But she wasn’t done, not quite yet, because within moments her eyes were locked onto Brinia Alistora, kneeling there before her. 

“What say you, Brinia Alistora, do you have anything to say for yourself?” Eia stepped towards her, standing directly in front of the kneeling dryad, her once beloved staff in hand. “You’ve already taken this power and responsibility upon yourself once today, are you going to do it again?” 

“No.” Alistora spoke without hesitation, her face still hidden behind Eia’s mask as the tears fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry, it’s not going to happen again. Not now, not ever…”

“Then what do you have to say about all of this?” Eia reached out with the tip of her staff, gently plucking the mask from the dryad’s crying face with it, never needing to touch her directly. “Because you had better have **something** to say for yourself, while everyone can hear you~” 

Brinia glanced around all of the desperate waiting faces, staring directly into her crying eyes as she knelt there at the wendigo’s feet, helplessly. She needed them to see the desperation in her face and the tears in her eyes. She needed them to hear the cracks in her voice and the emotion of her words. She needed them to feel the pain in her heart and the fire in her determination. She needed to do this, not just for them, but for herself. 

For her master. 

“If I may, Ma’am…” 

She looked up into the wendigo’s eyes as she spoke, trying to mean what she said this time. 

“I think I have some vows I need to renew~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you guys, this one was a big big chapter that i worked very very hard on, and i hope you enjoyed it. The face that yall are even still reading to this point means a lot to me. 
> 
> But hey, if you like the things i write and want to help me pay for my bills, i won't stop you.  
> [Support me here](https://ko-fi.com/clairanette) if you'd like to make my day, i promise it'll make me smile~ <3


	19. Mourning Bride

“Stormheart.” 

Cerilla stepped out into the open field, quickly faced with her right hand woman and said woman’s slave, fresh from having been given a new right hand to replace the one that her owner had severed earlier that morning. 

“A word.”

“At ease.” Cinna lowered her weapon, looking over at her commanding officer as she put a pause to the training session for the moment, having resumed with Zawdra late that very same night. “I’ll be back soon, behave yourself.” 

“The slave comes too.” Cerilla shut her subordinate down, now looking directly at the gargoyle. “You both should hear this.” 

Cinna shrugged, but she didn’t say anything. The pair of them followed Cerilla back to her workshop, Cinna keeping Zawdra in tow, close to her at all times. 

They passed by the rest of the officer slaves on their way back to the interior of camp, each busy working their ass off to fulfill evening duties for their owners. 

Said slaves included the cutest little minx woman, the pretty sheep woman had transferred from one owner to another after hers had died previously, and she was just the most adorable thing, even if she was weak. 

There were two male slaves as well, the other colonel owned an ifrit man who had once belonged to queen Kulgrantz’ legion, before being relocated and assigned to his current owner. The poor fire genie unfortunately hadn’t been there for the mass escape that the ifrit’s made just a little while back. 

And finally there was the lieutenant’s husband, a wood elf man who was owned by and incredibly beloved by his wife. She actually happened to be on leave at the moment, pregnant with their first son, **his** first son. The hobgoblin officer was pregnant with her slave’s child, who would turn out to be a hybrid between a hobgoblin and an elf, and also most likely owned by his mother. 

Out of the five officers, that just left Cerilla. She didn’t have a slave.

But that wasn’t by her own design. Imperial Najistrae had once had a slave, and she was very much into that slave, but one night just a few months back, her slave escaped and ran away, never to be seen again. 

Because of that, ever since that night, Cerilla had been without a slave- until now.

“Is that what you wanted to show me, Ma’am?” Cinna crossed her arms, staring up at the hideous thing standing inside of her commanding officer’s workshop, looming over her with those glowing red eyes. “That thing is huge.” 

“It’s meant to be huge, honey.” Cerilla chuckled at her, admiring the clay golem from below, standing at just over half of the creature’s height. “I modeled it off of that burly broad from the Frosted Forest~”

“Who, the goliath or…” Cinna just stared up at it, taking in the golem’s features. “The slave?” 

“Killtree and her dog toppled the high hall and freed my last slave, so…” Cerilla snickered, incredibly proud of herself for her work. “I’ll make sure my new dog can match her blow for blow.”

“And you think that’s wise?” Cinna still wasn’t convinced this was the best idea. “There’s a reason the high hall fell-”

“Because she had **her** with her. But Killtree’s pets won’t stand a chance against mine.” Cerilla tapped her foot impatiently, gesturing up to the beast. “Yours however-”

Cerilla was staring straight at Zawdra now, prompting the poor slave to slowly drop to her knees at her master’s side, knowing already what the general was going to tell them. 

“You ought to permanently retire her to your bedpost, Cinna. There’s no shame in letting your dog lay low somewhere that it’s safe~” 

“Excuse you?” Cinna scoffed, moving just a few steps towards her gargoyle so that she could gently pet Zawdra’s head. “My dog, my decisions.” 

“My army, my soldiers.” Cerilla rolled her eyes, standing beside the swamp golem now. “I won’t send her into battle.” 

“And why not?” 

“Because I said so.” 

There was a tense angry silence between the two of them as they stared each other down, drilling into each other’s eyes from afar. 

“Cerilla. I respect your leadership, but-”

“She’s going to die, Stormheart.” Cerilla’s voice was measured and stern, that quickly shut her subordinate up. “I may be a Najistrae now, but you’re still my little sister, and I care a lot about you.” 

Ah yes, the Stormheart sisters. That’s what they used to be called. Like the empress’ children, the two girls shared a bond with each other, ever since little Cinna had been born on the battlefield to some long dead hobgoblin soldier and Cerilla’s mother dragged her home to the elder sister screaming and crying. 

“I gave you that pet as a gift, to be your companion.” Cerilla crossed her arms, a stern look painted onto her face. “I don’t want to see the brokenhearted look in your eyes when your dog dies, Cinna.” 

“She’s not going to die, Cerilla-”

“If you don’t start being careful with her, yes she is.” 

“She can always be repaired, Ma’am.” 

“Oh yeah, and by whom?” 

There was another tense awkward silence in the air as the two sisters glared each other down, with their slaves just silently listening in on the conversation at large, disallowed the privilege of having any say in a conversation between two hobgoblins, especially the officers. 

“So you’re threatening to cease repairing her when she breaks then, is that it?” 

“I’m not threatening you and your dog with anything, Cinna. I’m trying to tell you that I can’t do it anymore-” 

“And why’s that?” Cinna was growing angrier and angrier as the two of them went on. “You’ve always been there to help her in the past, what’s different now?”

“I’ll tell you what’s different now, it’s this one here-” Cerilla unfolded her arms, gesturing up towards the ten foot clay golem beside her. “Without my elemental gem, little Nightingale is stuck in whatever shape you carve her into, Cinna.” 

Cinna stopped, turning to look down and face the gargoyle and watching Zawdra look back up at her, her owner’s hand still gently petting her head. 

“Even with the elemental gem at my side, which is now located inside of **my** slave, I can’t use it to cheat death.” Cerilla gestured towards the kneeling gargoyle slave, sitting next to her little sister. “If the life leaves her body, I can’t just miraculously bring it back. I can use magic to repair her body from injuries, but I can’t revive her.” 

“But you used it to bring the golem to life, how is that?” 

“I can only do that with one creature, Cinna. Please…” Cerilla frowned, just trying to be kind and keep the gargoyle safe. “I’m just trying to protect her.” 

“And I’m trying to make her happy!!” Cinna shouted back at her, torn on what it is she should be doing, her grip tightening onto her pet’s stony coarse hair. “I want my pet to be happy, okay?”

“And I want my sister to be happy.” Cerilla frowned, staring directly at Zawdra now, piercing into her with her sharp commanding eyes. “It might not seem fair, but I think my sister would be better off with a miserable living slave than a happy dead one.” 

Silence again, sharper and deadlier than any that had come before it. The tension filled the room, simmering to a boil between the two sisters, unable to proceed any further with each other.

“Do I get a say in this?” Zawdra, the slave, was the one to break the silence, and she was very much not supposed to. 

An immediate aura of anger and disbelief overtook both hobgoblin women, and Cerilla had to hold her hand up to stop her own fancy new golem from beating the gargoyle’s head in for misbehaving as the commanding officer glare across the room at her subordinate, refusing to even acknowledge Nightingale’s existence now. 

“No, sweetie. I’m sorry.” Zawdra turned to her master, watching Cinna slowly crouch down beside her, still petting her hair. She stared into the hobgoblin’s eyes, sad and distraught and what she was hearing as she produced a large metal shackle, getting ready to reattach it to her pet for the night. “Dogs don’t talk.” 

Cinna clasped it around Nightingale’s neck, closing it tight against her stony skin before proceeding to screw it onto her body. The gargoyle’s owner had gotten holes drilled into the skin of Zawdra’s neck, allowing her to use screws to attach the girl’s metal collar directly to her body, and Nightingale hated it. 

She shut it on **tightly** , sure to leave lasting scars within the slave’s body, especially now that damage was permanent. But Zawdra didn’t complain, she didn’t have the right to. All she could do was let her heart break inside of her as Cinna stood back up and held out her hand, not to grab and hold onto the gargoyle’s, but to bind her. 

The magical rune drawn onto Cinna’s palm glowed bright red, and within an instant the end of the long metal chain attached to Zawdra’s collar swung into the hobgoblin’s palm, her fingers curling around it. Even worse, it didn’t stop there, Cinna held her other hand out, sighing to herself as the rune on her opposite palm began to glow. 

It wasn’t magical force she was commanding, but magnetism, and the only other metal device Zawdra had on her was her sword. It along with its sheath quickly flew off of the gargoyle’s hip, delivering itself promptly into the claws of her master as Cinna confiscated the weapon from her slave. 

She really was a dog, helpless on the end of her master’s leash, unable to say another word as Cinna quickly dragged her back to their quarters for the night, effectively ending their entire training session without even giving Zawdra the dignity of doing her evening chores like the other, more person like, slaves. 

Dogs didn’t talk, but they also didn’t do chores, and Zawdra hated that. She hated being treated like a pet rather than a person, even if the only alternative was being worked half to death like a proper slave. Becoming Cinna’s bodyguard was only a slight step up from being her guard dog, but it was the only path towards becoming less of an animal that had been available to her, and now it was being completely cut off from her, like her hand from her wrist, leaving her less complete than she had began. Chipped, carved, cracked, and broken- just like an animal should be.

Cinna was just going to delegate what would have been Zawdra’s chores to some other slave, that much didn’t bother her, she just wanted to get back to her quarters and get her pet reattached to the bedpost where she belonged. 

“Cerilla does have a point, angel. You belong here, not on the battlefield.”

“But Miss-” 

“Don’t make me get the muzzle, Zawdra.” 

The gargoyle silenced herself, knowing how serious Cinna was when she made threats like that, and she made those threats because she knew they’d work on Nightingale, she knew how to keep the girl in her place. 

Gods did Zawdra Nightingale hate hobgoblins, but to be fair so did everyone. Each and every slave in this camp, from Belle Bursie the minx girl to Korgner Naitus the ifrit to Zawdra fucking Nightingale hated hobgoblins. But they all had another thing in common, a deep and abiding admiration and respect for their individual owners, and sometimes- like in the case of the elven Firth Corrien- the slaves even loved their masters. 

It was a strange and alien idea to Zawdra to begin with, but she understood it now, that’s how things were for her as well. Much to her dismay, she loved Cinna Stormheart.

Her owner wrapped the end of her chain around the bedpost, affixing Zawdra to it so that she couldn’t get away. The leash was relatively long, but she most certainly couldn’t leave the room, the most comfortable spot she could reach was her master’s bed, and the most comfortable spot she was allowed to sit was at the foot of the bed. 

“Nuh-uh.” Cinna quickly scolded her slave the moment she tried to lay in down next to her. “Your head to tail stays past my hips, got it?” 

Zawdra's tail hadn't wagged in quite a while, and it wasn't about to resume anytime soon. All she tried to do was climb into bed next to her, but just trying to lay beside her was enough to get Cinna to put her pet back in her place.

She pointed at her feet, directly her slave towards one half of the bed, making sure that Nightingale knew not to move past her master's hips, making sure to keep her curled up at her feet.

So she did, Zawdra nodded, climbing into bed with her owner, curling up at the hobgoblin's feet like a dog. She didn't like it, but if her owner wanted to keep her as a pet, she had no choice but to do as she was told. 

And so the two women slept, one free and one slave, until Zawdra was abruptly woken up the next morning by her owner climbing out of bed. 

She shot up, her tail very quickly beginning to wag at the thought of getting back to the clearing outside. “Are we resuming our training now, Ma’am?” 

“No, sweetie…” Cinna sighed, gently nudging the girl back to the bed. “Go back to sleep, hon.” 

“Then where are you going, Ma’am?” The gargoyle ignored her master’s orders, sitting up in bed directly next to her. 

“I’m a captain, dear. I have work to do.” Cinna sat up on the edge of the bed, getting dressed, her weapons leaning against the wall beside her. “Besides, I need to go find a slave to do morning chores.”

“I can do them, Miss-”

“No Zawdra, do as you’re told and lay back down, I’ll be back with breakfast for us soon, I promise~” 

Zawdra hushed up, laying back down at the foot of the bed like she was told, watching her owner get ready for the day. “You’re really relegating me back to just being a pet, aren’t you?”

“Cerilla was right, Zawdra.” Cinna sighed, giving the girl a knowing smile. “It’s where you belong.”

Zawdra hated hearing that, her stony heart carved into her skin breaking at the thought of it, being nothing more than just a pet. But she said nothing, she couldn’t fight it. Zawdra nodded and laid back down, watching helplessly as Cinna finished getting ready for the day. 

Cinna thought so little of her that she left the blade that Zawdra had been wielding propped up against the wall beside the bed. She didn’t even consider Zawdra a threat to herself, not if her master didn’t want her to be.

 _She wouldn’t just kill me right?_ Zawdra eyed the sword once the hobgoblin captain had left, leaving it behind, conveniently within the gargoyle’s reach. _Not for disobeying… that’s what she’s trying to avoid… she doesn’t want me to die…_

Her fingers curled around the handle of the blade, picking it up and holding it away from herself. Hobgoblin weapons were often made of a special magical metal that prevented anyone but a hobgoblin from wielding them, and Zawdra didn’t know how or why, but she could wield this one.

Maybe she was just that in tune with her master. 

She wasn’t going to be repaired anymore, any damage done to her was going to be permanent. The screw in her neck was permanent, the heart shaped carved into her collarbone was permanent, the scars around her throat were permanent. 

And if it was the last thing she could do, she was going to make sure that Cinna saw her slave as something more than a pet. 

One. Two. She carved through her own body with the blade, cutting through the pointy animalistic horns that protruded from the top of her head. They would need to be sanded down later, but for now the stumps were fine. 

She needed to do this if she was going to get her master to recognize her as a person, even if she ended up punished for it. But her horns weren’t enough, there was one more thing she needed to be rid of. 

She began to chip through the base of her own tail, her hands trembling with pain as she tried to break herself apart, tears in her eyes and fear in her breath, she kept going. 

“ **Zawdra Cumulus Nightingale!!!** ” Cinna threw down her own weapons and gear the moment she saw her, rushing to her pet’s side and completely disregarding the presence of the other slave that had followed her inside with breakfast. “ **What in the world is wrong with you???** ”

The gargoyle was only about halfway through her tail when her master returned, pulling the dull blade from her hard body with ease. “Master, I-” 

“Baby?!” Cinna was absolutely fuming with her slave, confiscating the blade and pointing it at the other slave in the room until the other woman delivering breakfast had left. “What are you doing to yourself?!” 

“I don’t want to do this anymore, Ma’am…”

“I don’t care if you don’t want to be a slave, Zawdra. You aren’t getting out of this!!”

“That’s not it, Miss…” Zawdra bit back her pain, trying not to bother Cinna with it. “I just can’t live as a pet anymore… I’m not a dog… I’m not an animal…” 

“So you thought you’d cut your tail and horns off?!” Cinna shouted at her, about ready to sock her pet in the face. “For attention?!”

“Not for attention, Ma’am…” Zawdra frowned, unable to keep from sobbing any longer. “I just wanted to look like you…”

“Like **me**?!” Cinna gasped, completely flabbergasted. “We can’t repair this anymore, Zawdra!!”

“I know, Miss…” Zawdra fell into her owner’s arms, desperately burying her crying face in the hobgoblin’s chest. “I just hoped that if I looked less like an animal, you’d see me less like an animal and more like a person…” 

“This is **not** how you try to start this conversation, slave.”

“You won’t let me start a conversation, Ma’am…” Zawdra slowly wiped the tears from her eyes with her terrified trembling claws. “Dogs don’t talk…”

“Zawdra…” Cinna gently lifted the slave’s chin, rubbing her tears away personally. “I’m just trying to keep you safe…”

“I know, Miss… but I want to help keep you safe too…”

“Keep me safe?”

“Please, Master… Teach me how to fight. Let me be your bodyguard-”

“Honey, no. I can’t have you getting hurt out there.”

“I don’t care if I get hurt, I just want to protect you from harm’s way, Ma’am…”

“But what’s wrong with staying home and being my pet?” Cinna protested right back at her slave, not wanting to have to watch Zawdra die on the battlefield. “What’s wrong with being safe and letting me do all of the fighting for you?”

“Because then I don’t get to be with you.” Zawdra let herself curl up in Stormheart’s lap, pleading desperately. “I don’t want to just be a dog sitting around and waiting for you to come home safely~”

“I know that it’s not fair, Zawdra, but you’re a slave.”

“I don’t care if I’m a slave, Ma’am… I’m not trying to escape, I just want to do something with my miserable life-”

“Your life is not miserable, Zawdra.”

“It is if I have to spend it alone, Ma’am…” Zawdra sat up, her entire body burning from within. “I know you just want to keep me safe, but I’d rather die on the battlefield protecting you from harm than sit around at home until the day that you don’t make it back alive… I want to be there.” 

“Zawdra…” 

There was a brief silence as they both gathered their thoughts, before the gargoyle spoke again. 

“Don’t you want me to be there, Ma’am?” Zawdra smiled, looking up at her owner in awe. “Don’t you want me to be there to see you become a royal?” 

“Enough, pet.” Cinna smiled at her, blade in hand as she stood. “Hold still.”

“Master?” 

“I said hold still.” Cinna watched Zawdra’s stony body tense up before swinging the blade downwards, listening to Zawdra’s pained scream as her own cleaved through what was left of her slave’s tail. 

Zawdra reeled for a good couple of minutes, her body in immense pain as she looked up at her owner, watching Cinna ready herself for more of the day ahead. 

“There’s no time to sit around and recover, slave.” Cinna set the sword back down beside the gargoyle. “Cut through that chain keeping you leashed to my bed then meet me back in the clearing, and maybe I’ll continue to train you.”

Zawdra’s eyes lit up hearing that. “You promise?”

“If you’re sure you’d rather die fighting than lying down, sure.” Cinna smiled, shotgunning the bowl of food that had been set out for breakfast. “Promise~” 

“I would, Ma’am…” Zawdra sighed eagerly, picking the sword back up from the floor below. “I want to die protecting the people I love.” 

↞✶↠

Brinia stared up into the eyes of her master from the ground below, fulfilling her promise to the people around her, protecting them from any future threat that might end up causing them harm.

Protecting them from herself.

“I kneel before you, on all fours. To swear that I’m forever yours.” 

“Anything you so desire… I vow to be what you require~”

“I give my everything to you. For all the things that you can do. “

“My head, my hand, my soul, my heart. I pray that we will never part.” 

“Forever shall I kneel to thee. Respect your power over me.” 

“Become what I am meant to be. And serve you ever faithfully.”

“So here to you I now resign. Everything I once called mine.”

“Beneath your rule, I know I’ll shine. I’ll never run. I’ll never whine.”

“To belong to you is all I crave. You have my word that I’ll behave.”

“Please spare the souls I couldn’t save…”

“And let me be your loving slave~”

The last time she had knelt here and spoken these words, the wendigo’s face hid from her behind that mask, but not this time. This time, Brinia could see just how happy the wendigo really was, smiling at her as she listened to those words. 

Shocked gasps, giggles, taunts, and sobs were welcome sounds to Brinia’s ears, but more than any sound, the sound of her master’s voice was all she needed here and now. 

“I warned you, last night, that I would need more than your basic obedience today. I gave you a name, I gave you a soul, and I told you that you’d have that life to answer for.” 

Eia stood in front of her, eyes drifting off towards her den mother, towards the young gnome girl in Cerila’s arms- Fennecca’s friend, Kouzonn’s apprentice, an innocent woman. Someone who Brinia knew, unimportant enough that her death would be without an impact, but important enough that Brinia couldn’t live with herself if she let the girl die. 

The wendigo’s words burned into her mind- _Rhakkiza Nairi will be next, and you’ll have her_ **_life_ ** _to answer for_ \- that’s what she had said, and she meant it. 

They didn’t like it, but Eia’s other brides had done as they were told. Cerilla stood to Brinia’s right, Rhakkiza firmly in hand, while Arleena stood to her left, patiently waiting on her master’s orders. 

“Now **this** doesn’t seem like total obedience, at least not to me… but-” Eia smiled, giving Brinia a wink as she turned to the wraith, smiling at Arleena. “ **I** wasn’t here with you today, so I wouldn’t know…”

Arleena swallowed nervously, watching the eyes of her sisters and her master turn on her, waiting for her, it was suddenly all on her. “Yes, Master?”

“You were with Alistora the whole time.” Eia smiled at her, weapon in hand as she awaited for a verdict from her bride. “So tell me- did she do a good job today, or didn’t she?”

“Me?” Arleena swallowed nervously, glaring straight into the kneeling dryad’s eyes as tears ran down her leafy cheeks. “You’re asking me?”

“You’re the only one who would know, doll.” Eia hummed under her breath, leaving the power in Arleena’s hands, finally treating her like an adult, someone with a valued opinion, relying on her to make the decision on her own. “You’re the only one who can decide~”

Brinia’s mind flashed with everything she and Arleena had been through up until that point, staring into her eyes in desperation and regret, afraid of her for the first time she could remember. She had ruined the elf girl’s entire life in just one week, and it was all up to Arleena whether to do the same to her. 

“Yes.” Arleena smiled, looking up into her master’s eyes, glowing happily. “We had a lot of time to bond today, Master… she did great~” 

And Eia smiled right back at her. “So she did~” 

Rhakkiza practically leapt out of Cerilla’s clutch as the hobgoblin let out a sigh of relief and released the girl, happy to not have to kill her. Fennecca also scrambled to her feet, letting the crying gnome woman fall right back into her friend’s arms for protection, and Brinia’s daughter was going to do everything to protect her. 

“Nightingale.” Cerilla nervously stumbled forwards, her hand extended towards the swamp golem’s husk, almost desperate to dig through it with her claws. “Nightingale~”

Eia glanced back at the golem and then at Cerilla, her eyes going light with understanding. She turned, her magical staff glowing with radiant light as she swept across the skyline, releasing a powerful magical shockwave in every direction. 

The stone husk of the creature broke to pieces, crumbling and blowing away with the wind, and in the debris and wreckage you could see exactly what it had been the now dead creature had eaten.

“Zawdra…” Brinia’s hands clasped over her mouth, her tears bursting from her anew. 

“Nightingale!!” Cerilla ran to the scene, quickly closing in on Kouzonn, there on his knees, Zawdra in his arms. 

“I can’t do anything more…” The human blacksmith was still protected by just a little bit of the protection magic that Brinia had placed on him before he went in to save her, but it wasn’t quite enough to help protect Zawdra. 

Alistora couldn’t tell if she was dead or unconscious, but she lay there in Kouzonn’s arms, her eyes closed, having lost most of her body mass, assimilated by the swamp golem. 

Her hair was quite a bit shorter, but that was the least of her problems. She had no arms, having gotten them either broken off or eaten all the way past the elbows. She had no legs either, she didn’t even have hips or a waist, not even her cunt survived being eaten away by the creature, she was a stump past the belly button, not that she had ever had one. All Brinia could be thankful for was that her head, her beautiful face, survived. 

“Mom!!” Fennecca began running towards the wreckage, letting go of her friend, but as she ran past the kneeling Brinia, her other mother stopped her. 

Brinia grabbed her by the wrist, the broken one, stopping her in her tracks before she could get any closer. “Stop…”

“Mom??” She struggled against it. “Let me go-”

“ **Stop**.” Brinia looked up at her with tears in her eyes, shaking her head. “Go… please…”

Fennecca looked down at the dryad in confusion for a good few moments before swallowing her anger and nodding. She turned, grabbing Rhakkiza and leaving, running away from the scene. 

Cerilla crouched beside Kouzonn, looking over the broken husk of her former ally, her friend, lying dead in his arms. With her clothes now gone, you could see that symbol carved into her chest, that heart that marked her as belonging to Cerilla’s right hand. The Stormheart. “Zawdra, I-”

She gasped, turning back and looking at her master, seeing that glowing red stone in her claws. Her eyes locked onto it, scrambling to her feet and clamoring back towards Eia, still standing in front of Brinia and the large crowd behind her. 

“I can save her…” Cerilla swallowed nervously, dropping to her knees at Eia’s feet, much like Brinia was. “I can save Zawdra…” 

Brinia’s eyes lit up at that, her mouth curling into a smile, but Eia instinctively pulled the gem away from the hobgoblin, holding it outside of Cerilla’s reach.

“Cerilla.” Eia frowned at her, her grip tightening on the red crystal. “I know exactly what you’re thinking, and I don’t know if this is safe.” 

“But Master, I-”

“I don’t know if it’s safe to trust you with this, Cerilla.” Eia stared at the crystal, knowing exactly what it had been used for previously. “The last time you had this crystal, you created that monster… everyone knows that.” 

“I know, but- please…” Cerilla frowned, desperately holding out her hand for a second chance. “Let me fix that, I can make up for it, I swear…” 

Eia’s grip on the gem did not at all falter. “Princess…”

“I’m only a princess if you’re my queen, Ma’am.” Cerilla’s face was red hot, her collar glowing brighter than the golem’s eyes had been. “I’m not the same person I used to be… I promise…”

Eia paused, puzzling it out in her head, taking in the gazes of everyone in the crowd before gently handing the small red crystal to the hobgoblin bride beneath her.

“Prove to everyone here that you can be trusted as a quartermaster, or I’ll sick Izona on you.” Eia smiled, closing Cerilla’s hand around the gem. “And she’ll do it too~”

“I know she will, Ma’am.” Cerilla smiled, rising to her feet and tucking the gem away somewhere safe. “Thank you, Master.”

“Be good.” Eia motioned Cerilla away, turning back to face her other brides. “I’ll send the stormbringer to check up on you before we leave~”

“Yes, Master… I’ll do my best.”

Brinia watched helplessly as Cerilla returned to Kouzonn’s side, picking the remains of Zawdra up into her arms, holding her in a makeshift bridal carry as she walked off, the blacksmith in tow, taking her to his forge. 

“I still don’t like you, Madaerie.” The human man did have to get at least one word in with the wendigo before he left. “And neither does anyone else… I just have more important things to attend to right now.”

“Consider your challenge noted.” Eia barely acknowledged the man. “Hurt my bride and your family gets it.”

“Same here.” He scoffed, and that was it, he and Cerilla left the scene. 

“Ummm… Master?” Arleena hid behind the wendigo, trying to shield herself from view of the crowd around them. “Can I go home now?” 

“Not quite now, I’m afraid.” Eia held her bride close as she resumed addressing the crowd, and more specifically, the three quartermasters approaching her. “Can I help you lot?”

“Yes, you can, actually.” The slime hag, Rahllita, was still fuming at her. “So here’s the plan-”

“Ah’m gonna get to helping the folks out, making sure they’re safe and have shelter to sleep the rest a the night in.” The older dwarf man, Yerb, piped up and added, smiling warmly at the dryad. “Once Ah got everyone inside, Ah’ll work on treating the wounded, if you’re likely to help-”

“I’m afraid the dryad is preoccupied, thank you.” Eia cut that train of thought off the tracks as quickly as she could. “This one belongs to me, and she’s busy **attending**.” 

“About that, Miss Madaerie-” Eldrian spoke up next, staring directly at Arleena as they addressed the wendigo. “We can’t let you keep the girls.” 

“I said no.” Eia let out a low growl, bearing her claws to the dark elf, ready to strike them down if they try to even make a move on her brides. “That’s final.”

“Keep the hobgoblin, and even the snake lady, if you’d like.” Rahllita, one of Tishula’s former slaves, was more than willing to give up the medusa. “But the elf and the dryad have to go, along with any other village girls you’re keeping in that den of yours-”

“Now hold on just a moment.” Eia held up her open palm, stopping the slime hag as she spoke. “I asked you not just a few moments ago if any of you wanted to stand and oppose me, and not a one of you- even the dryad here- did so.” 

Brinia felt Eia kick her in the side with her large furry foot, and she was grateful for it. She appreciated the quartermasters trying to fight for her freedom, but she knew it was a futile effort. 

“None of you are in the position to be making demands. I am.” Eia snapped her fingers and pointed directly at the elder Darkstyle. “And my first demand is that **you** stop pretending to have any high ground and start protecting the village from itself, which includes protecting me and my brides from **them**.”

Eia indicated towards the crowd waiting in the distance, slowly dispersing, prompting Eldrian to ultimately agree to that single demand. “Alright, fine…” 

“Yeah yeah, chill it, Darkstyle.” Rahllita still wasn’t amused, her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I’m going to get organizing some way to clear all of this wreckage, and you- wendigo- should find someplace to hole up in until you get the chance to scram.” 

“And if I don’t?”

“Then enjoy getting run down by an angry mob.”

“Fair enough…” Eia smiled, rolling her eyes at the hag’s empty threat. “And Kouzonn?” 

“Isn’t a quartermaster, thanks to your meddling.” Rahllita growled angrily, her face glowing, dripping with luminous liquid. “We’re left with a menace of a hobgoblin war criminal as a quartermaster, and **no** lady protector.” 

“If you need a lady protector-”

“You are **not** the lady protector, Madaerie.” Rahllita grinned as she rebuked her. “That requires a vote of confidence from the council of four, which means that us quartermasters pick the lady protector, not you, and not Zawdra Nightingale.” 

“And can we not get a vote of confidence together here and now?” Eia rolled her eyes, needing the other woman to get on with it. “Things would go a lot more swimmingly if you did~”

“I’m afraid not… we’d have to all be present for such a vote.”

“Alright, fine.” Eia growled in annoyance, snarling at the other woman. “Watch yourself, Zoowellsck, or I’ll send Tishula your way.” 

The slime hag backed off after that, swallowing nervously at the mention of her name, not wanting to deal with the snake lady any longer. 

“My house isn’t too far from here, Ma’am.” Brinia finally spoke up, needing to break through the tension before it came to a boil. “We can stay there as long as we need to.”

“So let’s do that, then.” Eia smiled, reaching down and taking the dryad by the hand, helping her to her feet and brushing rubble from her dress. “Be a good girl and lead the way~”

“Yes, Ma’am…”

↞✶↠

Cerilla toiled away for hours on end, working until the sunrise inside of Kouzonn’s workshop as she tried to make repairs on Zawdra’s body, making good progress in that time. It did help immensely that the magical earth gem could freely make adjustments to her physical form while the hobgoblin using it had the material to do so. 

“I’m sorry for nearly killing you, dear.” Cerilla held her hand out towards Rhakkiza, barely even acknowledging her as she got the assistant’s help. “I was just following orders-”

“I know, it’s fine…” She sighed, just happy to still be alive after everything that happened. “I just want to help fix Zawdra, and the master’s still injured…” 

“So he sent you in here to help, huh?” 

“Yes, Ma’am…”

“Fair enough~” Cerilla rolled her eyes, nodding her head. “I wouldn’t want to be around me either.”

“And who would, you’re a hobgoblin after all.” 

Cerilla turned around to hear a woman’s voice, seeing a mother with her young child in her arms, presumably Kouzonn’s wife and daughter, here to check up on him after barely surviving getting swallowed by the beast, returning back here to their home for safety. 

“Zhaba, please…” Kouzonn took his daughter from the woman, holding her in his arms. “How’s my princess doing?” 

“I’m okay, daddy…” The little girl clung to her father’s chest, pointing in towards Zawdra’s body on the table. “She saved me…”

“Did she now?” Kouzonn smiled, his heart breaking in his chest as he stared at the husk that once was the lady protector he served under. 

“She nearly died, Kouzonn…” His wife seemed to be very shaken up by this. “If it weren’t for Zawdra-”

“She’d be dead, right… but let’s not talk about this in front of her.” He handed his daughter off to the woman, turning back around for just a moment. “Go with your mom, princess. I’ll be in in a minute~”

“I don’t like her, Kouzonn… or the wendigo.” The woman, Zhaba, was speaking right through Cerilla. “But I’ll give her props for trying to fix Nightingale, it’s the least she can do.” 

“That’s why it’s important to let her be so that she can get back to work.” Kouzonn began to escort his family out. “Come on, let’s go~” 

And so finally Kouzonn left with his family, heading back inside with them and leaving Cerilla and the assistant in the workshop alone, with Rhakkiza heading back to the front desk as soon as she could afford to be away from the hobgoblin. 

The way he called his daughter a princess made her ears flicker, Cerilla had once been a princess, but not anymore. Right now she was simply a slave, trying to do as she was told. 

“Oh Cinna…” Cerilla sighed, gazing at that symbol carved into the gargoyle’s chest, still there and not scratched out over the years. “How did you end up with the best and most loyal slave?” 

She stared at the large metal shackle placed onto the table in front of her, once having belonged to Cinna, strapped to her slave’s throat. 

“Do you think she would have chosen to leave your side if she hadn’t been forced to?” Cerilla frowned, staring at the collar. “Like mine did…” 

She just kind of stared at the metal device, holding her open palm out like her sister, Cinna, once had, mimicking her ability to pick up metal objects with the runes tattooed onto her hands, but nothing happened. 

“Was worth a shot~” She chuckled, slowly beginning to retrieve her hand after a few moments before suddenly, the thick metal collar began to lift from the table, holding itself up for Cerilla to take. 

“What the… I… Ha ha, very funny.” Cerilla growled and sighed, her face turning just a little bit as she snatched the device from midair. “Give it here, stormbringer~” 

“Hey…” The harpy woman slowly let her invisibility fade, finally coming into view. “Master sent for me-” 

“Which is strange, you don’t usually leave the den, and when you do it’s always at her side.” Cerilla scoffed, getting back to work on putting the finishing touches on Zawdra’s body, clasping the collar around the woman’s neck just to be safe. “What brings you here?”

“To check up on the baby.” She smiled, averting her eyes downwards. “If I may-”

“Get on with it, then.” Cerilla sat back in her seat for a moment, letting her fellow bride examine her for injuries. “How is she?”

“She’s still kicking.” The harpy got her job done quickly and efficiently, confirming to herself and to Cerilla that the den mother’s kitten’s were still alive. “Safe and healthy.” 

“Right, thanks.” Cerilla shrugged her off, slowly and carefully screwing the collar to Zawdra’s stony throat. “Anything else you need?”

“How are you doing-”

“I’m fine, Valonda. Go home.”

“I’m just trying to check up on you…” Valonda frowned, turning away from her sister and from the gargoyle. “And I was told to see if Zawdra was okay…” 

“Do you remember her?”

“Of course I remember her… Everyone in the village knows her.” Valonda frowned, watching as Cerilla reached out and traced her fingers over the gargoyle’s skin. “Is she going to be okay?” 

“Hard to tell.” Cerilla shrugged her off, getting to work on carving out a slot inside of Zawdra to place the gem into. “All that’s left is to activate the crystal, and hopefully it’ll bring her back to life.”

“So she’s dead, then?” Valonda frowned. “She died.” 

“Yes, Valonda. She died.” 

Cerilla took her tools, and using that heart carved into her chest as a blueprint, carved out a heart shaped indentation into Zawdra’s chest, sliding the elemental crystal inside of it. 

“Hopefully this works.” She snapped her fingers. “Rise.”

The red gem in her chest began to glow, and so did her eyes as she sat up. Cerilla had toiled away nonstop for several hours to completely repair her body to pristine condition. Her hair was still short, but she actually had arms and legs and an entire torso now. Cerilla had repaired her entire body using parts of the swamp golem, including some features that had gone missing over the years.

A pair of large sharp horns protruded from her head, bigger than they ever had been, and a tail wagged slowly behind her as she sat up, repaired back into perfect condition as Nightingale held her head in both of her hands and whined to herself, much like a dog would. 

“It worked.” Cerilla couldn’t be more excited to see the gargoyle woman. “Oh my god, Zawdra, it worked.” 

She took both of the gargoyle’s sharp clawed hands into hers and held them, squeezing her stony palms and fingers tightly as she looked up into the woman’s eyes. “How are you feeling, are you okay?” 

Silence. Uncomfortable silence. Zawdra just sat there staring at her, strangely blank and empty, not saying much of anything at all- she was completely and utterly lost as to what was happening to her, squeezing Cerilla’s hands as tightly as she could, just about tearing into her with her claws. 

“Do you… remember anything that happened?” Cerilla gently let go of Zawdra’s hands, watching as the woman turned back and took a single look at her own tail before hissing in discomfort at it, reaching up and feeling her horns with her hands. “Can you hear me?” 

“Zawdra?” Valonda landed in front of the woman, waving at her just slightly. “You okay?” 

Nightingale absolutely lost herself then and there. 

“ **Grrrraaaauuwwwrrr!!!!** ” She hissed and growled loudly, flying into a blind fury as she lunged towards Valonda, trying to tear into her with her sharp stony claws, like a wild animal. 

“Zawdra, stop!!” Cerilla watched Valonda take off into the rest of the room, flying away from Nightingale as the gargoyle followed. She reached out towards the chain connected to her collar, just in time for it to slip right out of her hands as the woman soared around the room after Valonda with her fully restored wings. “Nightingale?! What’s gotten into you?!” 

“ **Graaaaaaaeeeggghhhhh!!!!** ” The gargoyle stopped for a moment, perching on top of the large forge and hissing at Cerilla as her eyes followed after her prey. 

“That’s not normal is it, mother?” Valonda scurried away from Nightingale as fast as she could, barely avoiding the other woman as the gargoyle resumed the chase. “She doesn’t usually do this, does she?” 

“No, she doesn’t!!” Cerilla leapt on top of the table, gripping the chain connected to Zawdra’s collar in her hands before slamming the newly animated gargoyle back down on top of the table. “Go find Master and tell her that something’s gone wrong!!” 

“Yes, den mother.” The five foot harpy woman barely had time to land on her feet and reactivate her magical invisibility before Zawdra slipped from beneath Cerilla’s grasp, flying into a rage around the room as the hobgoblin only barely managed to keep a hold of her by her leash. 

“What the hell-” Rhakkiza was caught off guard by the sounds in the room behind her as well as the wing flapping of some invisible creature as she poked her head back into the shop behind her, staring at the two women in front of the giant furnace. “Oh my god, what happened?!” 

“A little bit of help here, please?” Cerilla slowly but surely dragged Zawdra back to her by the chain, focusing all of her effort into trying to wrangle the out of control beast. “I need something to restrain her with-”

“The forge is off!!” The gnome girl pointed straight at the inert furnace, desperate to get out of there before she was attacked by a ravenous beast. 

“The forge… right!!” Cerilla glanced back at the furnace, its door still tightly closed. “The door-” 

“I’m on it.” Rhakkiza danced around the outside of the room, making her way over to the machine and holding the door open for Cerilla. “Hurry!!”

Cerilla hauled Zawdra from the table with all of her might, tossing the gargoyle woman headfirst into the forge, slamming the door shut with her inside of it. “Now.” 

Rhakkiza let Cerilla do the work of holding the door shut as she locked it, unable to stand up to Zawdra’s strength from inside, she did a remarkable job of not fumbling with her keys as she locked the metal door to the giant furnace shut, trapping Nightingale inside of it. 

“There…” Cerilla grinned, peeking in through the bars as Zawdra bashed at the door from inside. “She’s not getting out of there anytime soon.”

“Shouldn’t we go and tell someone about this-”

“I already have, don’t worry about it… We’re going to figure this out, just hang tight.” Cerilla waved her off, slowly backing away from the furnace she had trapped her former ally inside of, staring inside in horror at what the former lady protector had become. “Both of you…” 

↞✶↠

“You can keep this on until I say otherwise.” Eia gently replaced her own skull mask back onto Brinia’s face, letting her hide behind it again. “I don’t want you kissing anyone’s wounds away while we’re here.” 

Brinia said nothing to that, just sitting there on the sofa of what used to be her home as the three women waited for Alistora’s only daughter, Fennecca, to return with a mage. Arleena’s parent, Eldrian, was sent outside to protect the home from angry villagers as their daughter waited inside with her master, preventing any sort of substantial reunion between the two of them. 

“What about me, Ma’am?” The wraith girl piped up, rubbing her sore arms and legs. “Can she kiss my wounds away?” 

“Alistora? Kissing your wounds away?” Eia teased her, rolling her eyes. “Now I know I had her do it last time to make up for attacking you, but I’m offended you wouldn’t ask for **my** kisses instead~”

“Th-that’s not what I meant-” 

“Show me where it hurts, doll~” 

Brinia averted her eyes out of disgust as Eia went to work littering kisses all over Arleena’s body. Now that her trance had subsided she was substantially less fussed with the idea of intimate physical contact with either of them- but that wasn’t going to do much for her, now was it?

“Why are we even waiting for a mage?” She didn’t even use a title when speaking to her, deliberately choosing not to formalize any parts of her speech. Instead, Brinia blurted it out, putting the inevitability of sex with the wendigo off in her mind. “Wouldn’t it be safer to leave?”

“It would be, yes, but we do have to come back someday- and I would like to make back and forth trips easier.” Teleportation, Eia was looking for a way to quickly travel from the fog wastes all the way to the village, and that meant teleportation. “Besides, you just want to get me away from your daughter, isn’t that right?” 

“With all due respect, you did break her wrist the last time you stopped by our cabin…” Brinia frowned, continuing to avert her eyes as Eia made her way over to her, standing over the dryad. “You can’t really blame me for wanting to protect my daughter from-”

“Your master.” Eia stood directly in front of Alistora, her hands on her hips. “You think the most important thing to do is to protect your daughter from your master.”

“Yeah…” Brinia stared down at Eia’s feet, unable to look her in the eyes after everything that had happened the previous night. “That.” 

Eia stood over her with an unamused look on her face for a few moments before speaking again. “You loathe me.”

“I do not **loathe** you.” Brinia’s gaze tilted upwards, her face still pointed down. “I may not have the most positive of opinions about you, but that much is just untrue.” 

“Then what is it, Alistora?” Eia paused, drilling the dryad for answers. “Because I can and will be patient with you, but every little mistake piles up.” 

“I am grateful, Ma’am.” Brinia frowned, sitting up in her seat. “That’s how I feel about you right now… I am grateful that you have chosen to spare them all for the time being, despite how I have behaved this past week.” 

“And is that behavior of yours about to change?”

“Yes.” Brinia swallowed nervously, confidently looking up at the wendigo, her voice glum but determined. “Yes, Ma’am…” 

“This is the new standard I am going to be holding you to, Brinia.” Eia smiled just slightly, delighting in seeing how far the dryad had really fallen. “And you had better get used to it. Last time, I punished your daughter for your bad behavior, but it would seem you’ve spared her from that this time around.”

Brinia again didn’t respond. She glanced over towards Arleena, mostly just grateful for what the wraith had decided to do for her. “Thank you…” 

“Brin.” Eia smirked, degrading her name into a short sweet little moniker. “Tell me where it hurts, and I will kiss it better for you.” 

Alistora’s fists curled into the hem of her dazzling orange dress in utter agony, stung to the core by just the idea of it- her, being kissed better by a monster- the thought was gut wrenching. But Eia did not phrase that as a question, Brinia had picked apart the sentence and she was completely sure of that. That had been a command, a soft command, but still- 

A soft command was still a command. 

So she told her where it hurts, like she was told to. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at it, she didn’t need kisses to help heal her body, it did that on its own. But unfortunately, she realized that in this situation, trying to insist she was fine was likely not the correct way to go about things, not with Eia. 

“My hand and my head are injured, but it hurts the most between the legs…” Her voice shook with resentment as she spoke, revealing the most intimate of details to the wendigo. She was sharp and agitated, but honest. 

“I won’t ask~” Eia grinned, peacefully and satisfied, as she tapped Brinia’s leg- telling her to open up her thighs. “Knowing you two, I have a pretty good idea of how that happened already… I could **feel** you fighting, and I have to say, my hand hurts too, just from that.”

Brinia’s chest seized up, boiling with regret and fear. “If you know about it already, why aren’t you punishing me for it-”

“Brinia.” Eia spoke gently, silencing the dryad before she had the chance to say something she would regret. “Don’t dig yourself into a whole after I’ve already given you an out.” 

An out. Eia knew about the fight the moment it happened, and she chose to give Brinia an out. “You’re being too merciful-” 

“Do not tell **me** how to go about things, Alistora.” Eia reached out with her ring clad paws, grabbing Brinia’s injured hand with hers and squeezing it. “No, not Alistora, Brinia.” 

Brinia tensed up, letting the pain well inside of her rather than letting it out, refusing to squeal with pain if she could avoid. “Sorry.” 

The dryad hadn’t even realized she was still closing her legs until Eia had let go of her hand, and was impatiently waiting for her to spread her legs. “S-sorry…”

Eia sighed, shaking her head at the poor girl and her constant apologies. “You’re not very good at this, are you?” 

“No, Ma’am.” Brinia shook her head, pointed ears ringing in pain from behind the mask, she didn’t want to make a fool of repeating herself, but at the same time, all she could offer was apologies. “I’m sorry…” 

“Learn.” Eia snapped those fingers of hers and pointed, gesturing for the dryad to move. “Lay down.” 

“Right.” The titles were grating on her tongue, but she did what she was told and spoke with the same spirit. It was foolish to expect the wendigo to get down on her hands and knees to kiss the dryad between the legs, but Brinia hadn’t realized that until it was too late. “I’m sorry-”

“Quiet, Brin.” 

“Sorry…” Brinia tipped herself backwards, laying on the couch and looking up at the ceiling as she lifted her knees, spreading her legs for the wendigo and leaving her sensitive bruised cunt totally exposed to her. 

“This isn’t hard, Brinia~” Eia was completely over the moon to receive Brinia’s cooperation from her. “It is literally as simple as doing as I tell you.”

“Please…” Brinia squeezed her eyes shut as she lied there, not that anyone could see her face behind that mask that had been forced onto her. “I’m trying-”

Eia just let the exchange end there, not wanting to push the dryad’s words further than they need to be. The girl was already completely wrecked from the swamp golem’s attack, and the fight that she usually had in her just wasn’t there right now. 

Brinia kept her lips pressed together, trying her best to keep still as the wendigo ran her fuzz covered fingers over the inside of the dryad’s bruised thighs. 

She was suffocating. The metal of her collar pressed down on her throat as she laid on her back, keeping the weight of her subjugation heavy in her mind. 

Eia peaked between Brinia’s legs, checking out the abundant amount of damage that her sister had caused her. They were slowly healing thanks to the dryad’s natural healing abilities, but her leafy yellow skin was littered with bruises, harsher the closer they were to her cunt. 

Soft fuzzy fingertips, claws retracted, ran along the inside of her thighs, grazing her bumps and bruises. The dryad winced, heated between the legs by the raging pain burning on inside of her. 

_What an elegant little flower~_

Eia’s loins weighed her down, burdened by her desire for the faerie. It was unbecoming of a fierce angelic warrior to lie back with her legs spread for the predator, but the behavior was more than fitting for a dazzling little gay pixie girl with a sensitive little flower tucked between her legs, waiting to be pollinated. 

It would take a bit of work to grow and groom her into proper shape, but once Eia got her there, Alistora would make a perfect little domestic wife, sitting at home amongst a gorgeous little flower garden, making herself out to be the prettiest plant of the bunch, all for her master.

Some of these bruises however weren’t even from getting the senses kicked out of her, but from riding bare while she jockeyed alongside her master upon the sphinx’s back, Brinia’s cunt was littered with little scrapes and minor burns from humping the leather saddle for several hours straight. 

Brinia’s pretty little frame tensed up, knotting her little leaves as she felt lips pressed to the interior of her barky calloused thighs, wanting to jump into a fight she had no chance of winning. Eia fought her at her best and won, they both knew that. Now it was time to lay back and let her master have her way with the poor girl. 

Her skin tingled, slowly being littered with gentle kisses along her thighs, flower dripping pollen between her legs. She was grateful to have that mask to hide behind, quiet gasps escaping her lungs as she breathed, the pain of Eia’s kisses mixing into the dryad’s body, stinging with magic. 

Eia caught her leg with her paw, preventing the dryad from instinctively pinching her thighs back together before prying them apart again. 

_Oh no you don’t~_

The wendigo turned on the dryad’s leg, attacking her with sensuality. Her teeth gently but firmly dug into the skin of Alistora’s thigh, biting down on it to punish her for briefly losing control. Eia could feel her pull against her teeth while in her mouth, not to escape, but to correct her posture. The wendigo’s fangs left her another beautiful little bruise for defying her one she’d let go of the girl’s leg.

_Flawless~_

She finally dove in, claiming her prize as her own. Her lips, soft as a cloud, kissed the lips of her slave’s delicate little flower, sucking the naturally sweetened juices from the dryad’s thighs like she was a fruit, delighting in the taste of **her**.

You could feel from halfway across the world the tenseness of Brinia’s body as she arched her back, mumbling incoherent syllables through her lips in an attempt not to moan for her conqueror. 

Brinia wallowed in utter despair, feeling her captor discover her weakness on her own. The dryad’s cunt was wet, and for some reason, the dampness between her little flowery lips continued to grow itself. 

Eia hummed to herself, placing one last kiss upon the girl’s pretty little pistils before pulling away, easing her finger into the dryad’s eagerly wet cunt and coming out soaked in pollens. 

_Good girl_ \- was all that Brinia heard from the wendigo’s actions, as that fuzzy clawed paw gently patted her, not on the head, but right there between her legs, almost like Eia was applauding her for letting her own cunt be claimed. 

“Oh my goddesses, mom-” Fennecca shielded her eyes from the scene as soon as she stepped inside, and Brinia shot up. 

Eia didn’t like that. 

“Sweetie, I-” She sat up against the arm of the sofa, turning to face her daughter as she returned, face red with embarrassment behind that mask. “Mmmahh~!!”

Eia made sure to punctuate Brinia’s statement with a moan from the minx mother’s lips, hooking her fingers into the woman’s still exposed cunt, and gently tugging on it, forcing the faerie to lie back down. “I did not permit you to sit up, Alistora.” 

“We’ll wait in the other room then.” Fennecca turned, escorting the mage away from the scene before anyone in the house got the chance to identify who she had brought with her. “The situation room is in here.” 

Brinia was slamming the back of her head into the soft cushion beneath her, wanting to drown herself alive for exposing her own daughter to her moans. 

“What a pretty little moan you have-” Eia smiled, admiring the prone dryad from above. “Be proud of that~” 

Brinia kicked her feet, now fully closing her legs, hiding her flowery cunt behind wilting petals as she forced herself to show gratitude for the compliment. “Thank you…”

“You don’t need to be a part of this conversation.” Eia planted a gentle pat upon the dryad’s head one last time before standing up. “Just lie back and behave, this should be quick~”

“I brought you a mage, just like you asked.” Fennecca stood in the doorway to the situation room, purposefully looking away. “Everyone’s decent now, you can come in…” 

“Alright, thank you…”

Eia’s jaw nearly dropped as the familiar looking mage woman stepped into the room with them. She had never really spoken or met with the girl, but that face of hers was intimately familiar, because that face belonged to one of her brides. 

Arleena nearly burst into tears the moment she saw her, heart beating from her chest, pounding at the seams. Her hands, clasped together in front of her mouth, her feet, twitching nervously. “Eiranee…” 

The dark elf woman looked just like a slightly older version of Arleena, the wraith woman’s physique frozen in time to the moment she died, unable to ever grow up into a fully adult body. But her sister had gotten ample time to develop, especially in the chest, where Arleena was entirely flat and carved into, Eiranee was round and beautiful. “…Arleena?”

They stood in shocked silence for several moments, just staring at each other, unable to speak or think. 

“Alistora-” Eia interjected, speaking not to Brinia, but to her daughter. “Won’t you go fetch the elder Darkstyle for me… I think it’s time to give them a little bit of a reunion~” 

Fennecca didn’t say anything to that, but she nodded, appreciating the idea. 

Eiranee stood frozen over the dryad, eyes locked onto her twin sister. “You can’t be here.”

“I-” Arleena frowned, choking back tears that Eiranee didn’t seem to be crying for her. “I’m sorry.” 

“You’re supposed to be dead.” That brought just a little bit of a distraught glimmer to the elder sister’s eyes. “You mean all this time…” She paused, snarling just a bit under her breath. “You mean all this time she’s held you captive and you’ve never taken the chance to kill her??” 

“Eiranee, that’s not-” 

“That’s my sister!!” Eiranee turned on Eia, shouting directly into the wendigo’s face, anger boiling over what she had done. “That’s my sister…” 

“That.” Eia gestured towards the dark elf’s twin sister. “Is my bride… and I would suggest you remember that.” 

“What did you do to her?” Eiranee scoffed, almost unable to look at Arleena from across the room. “I’ve seen a lot of undead, but… that’s not normal. How did you do that?”

“She didn’t.” Arleena stepped in, murmuring painfully under her breath. “I did.” 

“How?!” Eiranee snapped at Arleena, immensely distraught over all of this. “If she didn’t bring you back to life, then how?!” 

“Calm down, sweetheart.” Eldrian stepped inside of the cabin, gently placing a hand upon the dark elf’s shoulder. “Yelling at her isn’t going to do anything for you.” 

Eia sighed, watching Fennecca and the quartermaster step inside with them. “How’s the crowd out there?” 

“The crowd is still very much angry, but they’ve calmed down just a little bit.”

“Fair enough.” Eia smiled, turning towards Arleena, patiently sitting and waiting for her master’s attention. “Alright, family reunion time~” 

Within a single second, Arleena was up on her feet and dashing towards her family, burying herself in her parent’s arms for support, her magical blade at her hip, reclaimed from the minx woman.

Fennecca just stared at it, the glowing blue sword, as she stood there, unable to face Eia or her own mother. But that wasn’t enough for the wendigo. 

“Ahem.” Eia snapped her fingers, grabbing at Fennecca’s attention. “I said family reunion time. Hug, kiss, do whatever families do with each other~”

The coyote girl couldn’t stop herself from smiling, launching herself across the room towards her mother, sitting down next to Brinia as she quickly sat up, coiling into each other’s embrace. 

The sweetness of it was almost sickening to Eia, who promptly stepped outside, not to escape them, but to give them an escape from her. 

_They seem so happy with each other… and I just don’t get it._

Eia sighed, gently leaning her bare back against the exterior of the cabin, her magical weapon at the hip much like Arleena’s was at hers, toiling inside of her own mind. 

**_I will admit… I don’t fully understand it either…_ **

Miraculously, Eia got a response, straight from the mouth of that voice which previously only ever spoke to the dryad’s mind. 

**_But it does look like it would be nice, don’t you think~?_ **

_Is that your way of asking if I plan on starting a family, twig?_

**_Maybe just a little bit~_ **

Eia giggled to herself, rolling her eyes at the sentient weapon slung around her waist. It was weird to be speaking with an inanimate object, but it was a welcome kind of weird, her brides were her property which practically made them animate objects anyways. 

_Tell me then, exactly who and what are you? Do you have a name?_

**_I do- Gala Nestriea, at your service~_ **

_Funny… that’s a name I’ve heard before._

**_It is, yes. Straight from the dryad’s lips, I was there for that. She probably doesn’t consciously realize that she said it, it’s just locked away in that brain of hers somewhere._ **

_Locked away?_

**_Alistora is centuries old, but she wasn’t always an archfey…_ **

_Do go on~_

**_She was a fairy, yes… but just an ordinary one, a dryad. She had a mother in a sense, Reede Nestriea, a magical light hag who raised her up and took care of her and her fragile little home until she was strong enough to protect it herself._ **

_And then?_

**_And then she met the angel… the high angel of the goddess of the faerie~_ **

_Angels are real then?_

**_They existed in some form then and they exist in some form now, never able to leave this plane… unseen by mortal eyes until the end of days came~_ **

_Does this mean you know what happened to the angels?_

**_I have absolutely no clue, look at me… I’m just a twig._ **

_So that’s how she became an archfey then, from an angel’s touch?_

**_In essence yes, but it was really through her kindness and compassion-_ **

_And she doesn’t remember any of this?_

**_She can’t remember any of this, it would break her… Her mind wasn’t built for centuries and centuries of memory, she lives as long as a tree, she’s losing memories as quickly as she’s making new ones._ **

_And if those memories came flooding back to her, she’d shatter._

**_Unfortunately, yes._ **

_Why tell me all of this then?_

**_Because you asked-_ **

_When?_

**_When you asked what I was, I’m her…_ **

_You’re Brinia Alistora?_

**_I’m not Brinia Alistora, I am what Brinia Alistora would be if she could magically retain those centuries of memories within her, we have the same experiences, but we are in essence two entirely different beings… Who she is is informed by what she can remember… Who I am is forged by what she can not~_ **

_So you’re those lost memories of hers… Every experience that’s slipped from her mind has coming sailing into you~_

**_Exactly… You’re a smart woman…_ **

_You’re a whole lot more cooperative than she is, as well~_

**_It’s because I have the centuries of wisdom to know when we’re beaten, her and I… and you’ve pretty thoroughly beaten us, Madaerie~_ **

_But she doesn’t see that, does she?_

**_I’m not her mind, just her memories, I don’t know what she thinks or feels… I can’t feel emotions like she can._ **

_What then happens now, Gala? Now that you’ve turned yourself over to me, what do you expect to happen next?_

**_Again, memory not mind. I have no idea… I just can’t lose her, and she can’t lose me._ **

_Well since you are, in essence, her… you belong to me._

**_Yes, Ma’am… whatever you say~_ **

_Good girl~_

Eia sighed, stretching her limbs and peeking back towards the cabin, deciding that it had likely been plenty enough time for the women and non-binaries inside to reunite and frolic with each other, and stepping back inside.

“Alright… I hope you’ve had enough time to yourselves then.” Eia closed the door behind her, taking a headcount and confirming that everyone was still present. 

Arleena was crying into her sister’s shoulder, now sitting beside her on the couch where Alistora had previously been laying, as Eldrian stands behind the sofa, keeping to themselves while their children make up for lost time with each other. 

“Whatever it is you’ve called me for, wendigo.” Eiranee was the first to address Eia as she stepped inside. “I’m not doing it.” 

_Right, checking on Alistora is going to have to wait~_

Eia sighed, slowly stepping towards the twin dark elves, hand on her hip. “And why not?”

“I want her back.” Eiranee was determined to reclaim Arleena for herself, and Eia’s bride had clearly tried and failed to talk her down for that. “Give me my sister back, and I’ll do whatever you ask.”

“Arleena-” Eia groaned, not having any time to be playing around with the thrall’s demands. “Can you answer an honest question for me?”

“Yes, Master.” Arleena sat up, the wendigo’s voice clearing away her distress and recomposing her in a way that her sister couldn’t, but Eia always did. “What is it?”

“Just to make sure that I’m informed, tell me- would you rather belong to me, or to your sister?”

Arleena gasped, nervously glancing back and forth between the two other women. “Master, I-”

“Now keep in mind, dear, your sister is just as much a slave driver as I am~” 

“Nonsense!!” Eiranee shouted back at the wendigo, leaping from the sofa and up to her feet to rebuke the other woman. “I am **no** slave keeper-” 

“Now I’m not passing judgement or anything, I get it, but are you sure about that?” Eia didn’t bother smiling at her, she didn’t need to argue with the smaller creature. “Because I distinctly recall my songbirds telling me about your little enterprise, and I must say-” 

“What do you want from me, fiend?” Eiranee caved, quickly agreeing to give Eia what she wanted in an attempt to shut her up. 

“All I wanted was to collaborate with your magic to make things a little bit more convenient, but now… I want to hear what Arleena has to say-” 

“Can we **please** stop being at each other’s throats?” Brinia, unable to take the bickering any longer, stepped back in from the situation room, her ears ringing. “Let’s just calm down and talk things out, okay?”

“Oh shut up, Brinia.” Eiranee instantly snapped at the dryad, unwilling to listen to whatever she had to say. “I don’t want to hear anything from the girl wearing the wendigo mask, so until you decide you’re not too much of a harpy to take that thing off, I’m not gonna listen to a word from you.” 

“Eiranee!!” Eldrian gasped, shaking their head in disapproval. 

“What, I’m not wrong??” Eiranee scoffed, gesturing towards both Alistoras, and from the sounds of it, her voice was resonating, especially with Fennecca, who was very appreciative of hearing someone else call out her mother like she had been doing. “She’s a pussy-footed meek wilting little dandelion, she a slave and a weed, she has no right to preach to even a corpse, let alone to **me**.”

“ **Enough.** ” Eia slammed the bottom of her staff into the floor beneath her, commanding silence from the whole room as she then pointed the staff at the corpse bride. “Now, please… just let the girl speak.”

“I don’t know, Master.” Arleena hung her head in defeat, unable to look at either woman. “I want to confess that I’ll stay with you above all others, but… I don’t know… I’m sorry.”

It was an honest answer. An agonizingly honest answer, one that kind of shook the wendigo from head to tail, because that indecision of Arleena’s was not something Eia expected to hear. 

“Oh. I see…” Eia paused, unsure of how she wished that would have gone. “Well, worry not, you still do and always will belong to me, now please convince your sister to cooperate with us, or I will be forced to-” 

“We have a problem, Master.” I hushed panicked voice suddenly spoke into the wendigo’s ear, following her inside through the open door and carefully perching about her shoulder, worried and frustrated like she usually never was. “Den mother has asked I retrieve you right away~”

Everyone just kind of stared at Eia and the invisible creature now, unsure of who this songbird was. Even Brinia and her daughter poked their heads back out from the situation room, that mask still firmly placed upon the dryad’s face, which Eia more than appreciated. 

“Shimmer down, Valonda.” Eia sighed, reaching out and petting the harpy woman perched upon her upper arm. “You’re freaking everyone out.”

“My apologies, Master.”

There was a brief flutter of wings and flash of light as her invisibility faded, and suddenly there was a five foot tall bird woman standing on the floor before the rest of the room, tail feathers turned to her master as she bowed, apologizing to the others for the intrusion. 

She curtsied, her radiant yellow feather glimmering in the light and her hideously monstrous talons tapping on the floorboards. She was morbidly beautiful, and seeing her unnaturally white skin and glistening gold hair shining in the sunlight really did help one see why she spent most of her time invisible to the mortal eye. “And apologies to you all for the interruption.” 

“Harpy.” Eiranee gasped, staring the familiar shape up and down, seeing the very same harpy that had saved her and her sister’s life from the swamp golem all of those years ago. “You have a hobgoblin **and** a harpy?”

“Well hello, it’s nice to see you again, Miss Darkstyle. My name is Valonda, pleasure to formally meet you~” Valonda smiled, nodding her head at the woman. “And yes, Master has many creatures around her fingers- including dryad, hobgoblin, harpy, wraith, medusa-”

“Medusa?!” Fennecca gasped loudly, scoffing at the idea of it. “You have the snake lady too?” 

“Zoowellsck’s former master, yes.” Eia held out her arm for Valonda to sit upon it again. “And I think that’s all the information you need to give to them, Valonda. What’s happening?”

“It’s Nightingale, Miss.” Valonda answered nervously. “Something’s gone wrong.” 

“Zawdra.” Brinia gasped, her hands clasped in front of her aching chest. “What’s wrong with Zawdra?”

“That’s why I’ve come to retrieve you, Madame Protector. Cerilla is expecting you right away~”

It occurred to the dryad that Brinia had never actually spoken to this woman before, she didn’t really know who this girl was. She had seen her, just once, when all of Eia’s brides had met, but after she took Zaikana into the waiting chamber she hadn’t seen her since. 

Brinia’s heart was beating nervously in her chest, but before she had the chance to voice her anxiety or fears, Eia was taking care of the situation. “Brinia is with me, Valonda stays here and watches over Arleena and her sister to make sure they stay here and out of trouble- and Eldrian, I think I’m going to need an escort there.” 

“I can escort you there.” Fennecca stood up, unwilling to leave her mother’s side. 

“Sure you can, little Alistora-”

“Don’t underestimate me, wendigo.” Before anyone understood where she’d gotten it, the minx was pointing the glowing blue blade of Arleena’s magic sword straight at Eia. “I’m not a child nor a weakling.”

“Hey!!” Arleena gasped, realizing that she had nicked it while the wraith was embracing her family. “That’s mine!!”

“Then come and take it from me-” Fennecca grinned, still pointing it at the wendigo. “Unless you’re too much of a harpy to~” 

Eia giggled at that, but even more amazingly, Valonda remained unphased, almost like it was less of an insult and more of a statement, but nevertheless Eia agreed. “Alright. Escort us there then~”

↞✶↠

“You two can wait out here with Miss Nairi.” The small group quickly made their way over to the blacksmith’s forge, stepping into the front lobby together. “Try and pull anything funny, minx, and you’ll lose one of those wrists for good.” 

“Ma’am, please-” Brinia’s voice shook as she spoke, she was already nervous, she didn’t need to hear threats to her family while she was scared of what was going on with Zawdra. “She’s my daughter.”

“I know she is, Alistora.” Eia smiled, trying to be just a little bit comforting. “And if she’s at all as smart as her mother, she’ll know what’s best, and she’ll behave, isn’t that right~?” 

“When can I see my mother, monster?” Fennecca, like always, still wasn’t amused. “You’ve already taken one, I won’t let you have the other.” 

“You can see Nightingale when I have deemed it safe for you to, and not a moment sooner.” Eia slowly opened the door to the forge and stepped inside, gently closing the door behind her. “The last thing I want is for anyone else to get hurt, now hang tight and wait for me.” 

_What an insufferable little brat._

She understood where the minx woman and the wraith’s sister were coming from, but she very much didn’t appreciate their attitudes towards her. 

“This is why I don’t let my brides see family, because **families** make demands.”

“And sometimes, depending on the family, they also have a tendency of conquering the entire continent before moving on to claim the entire world~”

Cerilla Najistrae, finally, a voice of reason. 

Eia rolled her eyes, staff in hand as she approached. “Status?”

“Completely off the rails, Master. Take a listen.”

“ **Greeeeaaaaugggghhhhh!!!!** ” The furious gargoyle bashed against the door to the forge, at this point just angry that she wasn’t being let out. 

“Was that her?” Eia peeked inside, extending a hand towards Cerilla for the keys. “What did you do to her?”

“I just reanimated her with the elemental gem.” Cerilla went ahead and handed off the keys. “Just like I did with the swamp golem.”

“And you’re sure you didn’t just reanimate the swamp golem into Nightingale’s body instead?”

“I can’t be sure of that, no.” 

“Oh, Nightingale~” Eia opened the door to the forge, gently extending her hand towards the girl. “Come on, I know you’re in there~” 

Zawdra hissed again, flying out of the furnace and past Eia, perching on top of the forge. “ **Greeeeeeegh!!!!** ” 

“Zawdra.” Eia snapped her fingers and pointed to the floor at her feet, commanding the gargoyle like she had been commanding the swamp golem. “Sit.” 

The gargoyle just stared at her in disgusted silence for a few moments, nervously looking down at the standing wendigo and her massive furry paws. 

Eia grinned, encouraged to see her just sitting there, it wasn’t perfect but Zawdra did at least seem to be responsive to Eia’s orders. Yet still, the den mother and her master couldn’t determine whether it was really Nightingale in there, or if it was actually the swamp golem. 

“ **Grrrr…** ” Zawdra hovered down, sitting at Eia’s feet like a dog, her tail angrily tapping atop the stone floor. She wasn’t happy.

“There it is.” Eia smirked, setting her hand down on the gargoyle’s head, gently petting her. “There’s a good dog.”

The elemental’s pointed ears twitched at the word, her glowing red eyes softly parting to make way for her small black pupils, going wide for a moment before getting swallowed all over again, the red sea in her eyes now storming with rage. 

“ **Scraaaauugghh!!!** ” Nightingale lashed out, snapping her jaws onto Eia’s hand, biting down on the soft part of her paw. 

Eia hissed back, yanking her paw away from the crouching gargoyle, snarling angrily at the creature biting her. That brief look of gentleness in her eyes screamed that Zawdra was in there, if only for just a moment, but that ravenous hunger of hers roared with the madness only seen from the clay titan. Both, they were both in there, weren’t they?

Meanwhile, Alistora and her daughter simply waited in the other room, desperately trying to ignore the screams and snarls coming from the forge behind them. 

“What’s going on in there?” Brinia, helpless Brinia still hidden behind her master’s mask, refused to let the fear and worry in her eyes show through, wanting to look strong for her daughter as Nightingale suffered mere feet from them. 

“I can’t say, I’m sorry.” Rhakkiza stood between them and the door, having discussed with Cerilla what not to tell guests and visitors about what was going on. It was of course on a need to know basis, and the poor girl didn’t have the authority to decide who had clearance to go back there, it was someone else’s shop after all. “She said to leave it up to the wendigo-”

“Who said, Najistrae?” Fennecca snapped back at her best friend, too affected by the pain of her mother to be able to ignore it. “The hobgoblin who almost kidnapped and killed you on her master’s orders said to leave it up to the monster who ordered her to have you kidnapped and possibly killed?” 

“Y-yeah…” Rhakkiza just blinked, biting her lip and averting her gaze. That was clearly not something she had rationally realized before, but now that she was considering it she was beginning to get a little bit uncomfortable. “Fennecca wait.” 

There was a loud thump on the door from behind the gnome, sending her eyes growing wide with shock and fear, suddenly unable to keep the door shut. 

Rhakkiza scurried away as the next thump came, harder than the first, and before Fennecca could get a step closer, her mother grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her, forcefully pulling her away from the door split seconds before it slammed open from the inside.

“ **Graaaaauuurrrrrgghhhh!!!** ” Zawdra slammed through the door, flying into the room as it gave way, ferociously fleeing from the wendigo trying to tame her. 

She collided headlong with the dryad, landing in Brinia’s arms atop her chest as she knocked the other woman over, bodies pressed against each other. 

“ **Scrraauuuwrr!!!** ” She hissed angrily as she crouched on top of her chest, bearing her sharp claws against Alistora, snarling at her from above.

The dryad’s delicate little heart wilted away seeing her like this, Zawdra Nightingale, attacking her once lover like a ferocious monster, and it left her frozen in her grasp. 

“Zawdra?!” She took it all in piece by piece, desperate to understand. “What happened to you?!” 

She looked like her, she looked just like her except entirely different. Her hands, once firm but welcoming were now punctuated by sharp dangerous claws. Her loving eyes now glowed red with rage, she hunched where she would usually stand, and her wings were spread to emanate an intimidating aura. But it was what she used to lack that she now had that really highlighted her transformation into someone or something entirely different from the woman Brinia knew and loved. 

She had not one but two drill sharp horns protruding from her head, her scalp once completely smooth and almost sanded down was devilish and demented. But the thing that struck Brinia the most was that Zawdra now had a tail, long, thin, spiked, and demonic. The gargoyle now looked and acted like nothing more than a monster, and it was destroying them both. 

“No…” Brinia watched as she raised her hand, ready to strike the dryad, those fierce claws and fangs out to destroy her. And she sat there, helplessly, watching the gargoyle’s deadly swipe just barely graze the arch faerie's face. Nightingale lurched backwards, her chain being yanked from behind just in time to keep her from slashing through the dryad’s throat.

 **Smack**.

There was a hiss and a clatter, it was more like a slap to the face than anything, as Zawdra’s claws swiped her. Brinia’s face remained untouched, protected by the skull mask she had been instructed not to remove, now sent tumbling to the floor beside her. 

She stared into the lady protector’s eyes, hers filled with tears as they sat face to face, gazing at each other, her yellow skin now exposed to the sunlight shining down into the room between them, watering herself with her own tears. 

And Zawdra Nightingale stared back, her own eyes filled with tears, soaking up the fiery rage behind them and extinguishing her burning glow. 

There was silence and there was calm, an unnatural peace filled the room as the metal chain landed on the floor at their feet, and everyone around them just observed. 

“Zawdra?” Brinia sat up, glancing around the room but finding no one she could keep her eyes upon save for Nightingale, now slowly approaching her. 

“Murr…” For once, she let out a soft sound of happiness, rather than hiss, growl, or snarl. It wasn’t words, but it was something. Nightingale was definitely in there, it just took Brinia to bring her out. “Awwrr…” 

“What?” Brinia swallowed nervously, staring her up and down. “What happened to you?” 

“Mmmmm… Rrrr…” She slowly and carefully approached, her stony clay tongue soaking up Brinia’s tears as she licked them from the dryad’s eyes, lapping them up like a dog trying to make her owner happy. 

She seemed terribly distraught, like she was just as confused about what was going on as everyone else was, and it didn’t seem to sit well with her. 

Her pointed ears flickered as she heard Fennecca’s voice, calling out for her, and her eyes widened further. Quickly leaping from Brinia’s chest and back onto the floor, she flapped her wings and landed at the minx woman’s feet instead, her attention span as short as an animal’s. 

“Oh no…” Fennecca couldn’t help but tear up just a bit as her mother rubbed up against her leg like a dog would, disgusted to be watching this. “No… mom, stop… you’re not a dog…” 

“ **Graaagh!!** ” Zawdra relapsed briefly before quickly recovering, snarling at the word- **dog**.

Eia also seemed to be affected by what was happening, watching one of her brides get attacked by her lover wasn’t something that was new to her, but it never got easier. 

And neither did being called a dog, seemingly. 

“Give me that-” She scooped her mask up off of the ground as she crouched beside Brinia, taking the dryad’s hand in hers. “Are you alright, slave?”

The wendigo also had a softness in her eyes that Alistora was not prepared for, and she was most certainly not okay with Eia seeing her so vulnerable. 

“I am just fine, Ma’am.” She returned to pragmatism, yanking her hand from Eia’s and sitting up, climbing to her feet on her own. “Thank you.”

Now stripped of the physical mask she hid behind, it was time for Brinia to reequip her own mask, practicality and stoicism. Fey were full of emotions, yet they never needed to show any. “Come on, Fennecca, we’re going home.” 

The coyote woman gasped, looking down at Zawdra. “But what about mom?”

“Do as she says, little Alistora~” Eia stood behind the dryad, putting her own mask onto her face, hiding her own emotion from view. “She’s in good hands with Cerilla, now come along. This is a problem best suited for a later date.” 

Zawdra, on the other hand, didn’t seem all that happy that she was being abandoned here, even if she couldn’t properly vocalize that. 

“I’ll take her to the den with me, she’ll be fine.” Cerilla crouched next to the gargoyle, gripping her leash in hand. “You’ll do as I say, isn’t that right?” 

Nightingale tilted her head back towards the other women, staring off between Eia and Brinia, unsure who she was supposed to listen to. 

“Be a good… gargoyle for Cerilla.” Brinia said nothing, leaving it to Eia to direct them. “You’ll get to see your family soon, but right now is no longer the time for reunions.”

↞✶↠

“So how did it go, Master?” 

By the time the three women got back to Alistora’s house, Valonda was standing by waiting for them. Eldrian had since left, but Eiranee was still here, sitting down beside a sobbing Arleena. 

“It went about as expected.” Eia wore her mask to hide behind, realizing it best not to show the people too much of her true self just yet. “What happened here?”

“Some very good news, Master.” Valonda smiled, sighing as she picked up a small bundle of blankets from the stool beside her, holding it up for Eia to take. “But first-” 

“You took it out of her.” Eia sighed, peeking into the bundle of blankets to see a small antlered rabbit, nearly fully formed and in one piece, though not quite at all intact. It was still a good few weeks from being ready, but it wasn’t breathing. Arleena’s kitten. “It would have naturally dissolved back into her, why not just wait and let that happen?”

“Th-th-th-that’s the good news, Ma’am…” Arleena hiccupped as she spoke, wiping tears from her eyes, seemingly crying not out of distress, but happiness. “T-tell her~”

Eia raised one eyebrow, looking now at the wraith, not that either of them would be able to tell. “Tell me what, dear?” 

“Twins.” Arleena’s sister, Eiranee, answered for the girl, squeezing her hand. “Arleena told me what happened, and I decided I’d check to see if I could do anything to help, but-”

“It’s my fault, Master.” Valonda lowered her head, accepting the blame for the mix up. “Historically, a bride’s very first litter will only ever yield one kitten and no more, so since we waited so long to let Arleena bear her first litter, I continued to assume that it would hold true for her, but it would appear that the heightened probability of a mother who was born a twin to bear twins of her own… Arleena’s had two, and I didn’t think to check behind the miscarriage for further signs of life, I’m sorry…”

Eia smiled, over the moon to be hearing what she was pretty sure she was hearing. “So what does that mean, slave?”

“Arleena is still pregnant, Master.” Valonda smiled, gesturing towards her sister. “She has a second still growing kitten still breathing inside of her, and she needs to be put in waiting, Ma’am… So I decided to remove the stillborn prematurely to prevent her body from dissolving both pups, living and dead.”

“And how is this possible?” Eia wasn’t letting Brinia off the hook for this just yet, she was still responsible for a lot of the damage she caused to the wendigo’s poor bride. “Were they not both dead on impact?”

“I have my own theories about how such a thing could be possible, Master.” Valonda stood at ease, fluttering over to Arleena’s side, examining her injured body. “One such theory, though unlikely, is that since they were tucked one in front of the other one of the twins possibly took the brunt of the damage while simultaneously protecting the sister hiding behind her. But my other, equally likely theory, is that it was **her**.”

Everyone happily stopped for a moment to figure out who she was talking about, Brinia. 

“She may indeed be the one to have caused the initial miscarriage, but I highly doubt that the remaining twin would have survived had it not been for the madame protector healing her when she did. I can only assume that your decision to employ Brinia’s healing magic to repair Arleena’s body that allowed for the kitten to survive unnoticed.”

Brinia nervously tensed up, taking in the grateful looks coming her way, and instantly she was trying to bounce the credit back towards Eia. She remembered kissing Arleena’s injuries away, they both remembered it, but she hadn’t imagined that she was saving one of her kitten’s lives. “It wasn’t me, really… I only did it because I was given no other choice, Eia could have done it herself, she didn’t need me, it was a punishment. I don’t see how I made a difference, if I hadn’t been there, she would have done it herself, right?”

“I’m afraid that’s not the case, actually.” Brinia turned to Eia for an answer, but before she could, Valonda was already explaining things so that her master didn’t have to. “You’ll explicitly recall that the very same morning was when Noriza was having her pups, that’s what Master was preoccupied with while you were in the recovery chamber with Arleena. She couldn’t have chosen to spend her magic on healing Arleena, because she needed to expend it to help Noriza recover from giving birth. If you hadn’t been there, Master would have waited several more days to fully recover from healing one bride, and the other would have been forced to wait.”

“How do you know all of this?” Brinia scoffed, turning towards the harpy. She hardly knew this woman, but this was the most that she’d ever heard Valonda speak, and none of it was about her own business. “You weren’t there for any of this, how do you know these things?” 

“B-because-” Valonda actually blushed at that, averting her eyes from Brinia’s and back towards her master. “M-Master?” 

“Because I’ve had Valonda spying on you from day one, Alistora.” Eia tried her best to diffuse the situation, letting out the not so well kept secret she’d been keeping. “Invisible and unseen, I have been instructing her to follow and keep an eye on you, that’s how she knows these things.”

“Wait-” Brinia blushed, disturbed by the idea that she had been being watched at even her most vulnerable of moments. “What?”

“You’re very… infatuating to watch. Captivating, enthralling, mesmerizing, bewitching, alluring, fascinating.” Valonda’s otherworldly pale cheeks got just a little bit of color as she blushed. “Spellbinding~” 

Brinia’s faces turned an even brighter shade of blush, swallowing nervously at Valonda seemingly having spied on her and having nothing but good things to say, unlike most all of her sisters. Valonda was… a strange creature, stuck between two worlds, monstrous and beautiful, but weren’t they all?

“That is to say I don’t think that both Noriza and Arleena would have had full recoveries if it had not been for our master’s decision to claim you… if you hadn’t been made one of our sisters, the kitten wouldn’t have made it.” Valonda turned back towards Arleena, helping the wraith girl to her feet. “She would do good in my place, Master~” 

“We’re not to that yet, but thank you Valonda~” Eia smiled, gesturing for the harpy to return to her side. “Go ahead and take your sister to the waiting chamber.”

“Just a second, Ma’am.” Arleena left her sister’s side and slowly approached the dryad, looking Brinia in the eye. “I’m sorry to hear about Nightingale, but… thank you for everything you’ve done this last week, good and bad.”

“I don’t need a thank you, Arleena, really-” Brinia started before getting interrupted by a punch to the still sore shoulder from the wraith woman. 

“You almost left this back in the clearing.” Arleena held up the bag that Brinia had been instructed to keep on her, holding it out for the dryad to take from her. “I’d like to request that something useful be done with my kit. Feed her to someone who’s starving, use her as a spell component, or something… just don’t bury her… it’s a harsh world out there.”

“Can do.” Eia nodded, the bundle of blankets still in her arms. “What about you, wizard, do you need this for a spell?” 

“No.” Eiranee sat cross armed on the sofa, watching this all unfold. She didn’t like seeing this, but she understood the love that Arleena felt towards the wendigo, and she could respect it. “But I do need a piece of the dryad.”

“A piece of the dryad?” Eia snarled just a little bit, not wanting to see her newest bride maimed. “What kind of piece and for what purpose?”

“I need some permanent part of her to create a teleportation circle for you, Madaerie. It needs to be something sturdy, something that won’t grow back or wilt away, those are too flimsy.” Eiranee sighed, agreeing to do what the monster was asking of her. “It’s very specific I know, but I’m going to imbue a pair of trees with the ability to use her tree stride freely, that way you’ll be able to transport yourself via the trees from one end of the forest to the other- so it very specifically needs to be from the dryad, it’s her forest and her tree striding abilities.”

“What do you think, Alistora?” Eia pondered it over for a moment, slowly lowering her mask from her face. “Should I give her a piece of my bride, or shouldn’t I?”

“I’ve got this, hold on.” Before Brinia could even answer, Arleena was already at her sister’s side, holding out the dryad’s severed tooth towards Eiranee. “Will this do?”

“That depends-” Eiranee smirked, taking it from the other elf. “Is it the dryad’s?”

“Unfortunately, yes…” Brinia sighed, rubbing the sore spot in her mouth. “The snake lady plucked it straight from my mouth.”

“Eugh, are you serious, mom?” Fennecca scoffed, nervously fidgeting from the sidelines. “And you think it’s safe to stay with these people?” 

“Fennecca…” Brinia frowned, turning to face her. “I know you’re just worried about me, but I have to do this-”

“But what about Zawdra?” Fennecca choked up thinking about what had happened to the gargoyle. “I can’t lose you too, mom…”

“I know I know, and I’m sorry, but…” Brinia swallowed nervously, the feeling of her collar strengthening in her mind. “But I have no choice.”

“Sure you do.” Fennecca stepped towards her mother, giving the dryad a hug with her working arm, the other hung into a sling thanks to her broken wrist. “If I kill her, her magic fades away, right?” 

“That’s not funny, sweetheart.” Brinia nervously glanced back, desperate for the wendigo to spare the young minx woman. 

“I’m not joking, mom.” Fennecca pushed her away, taking a deep breath as she pulled Montemaster from its sheath, pointing it at Eia. “I’ve never been more serious.”

“Fennecca, please-”

“Stand down, Alistora.” Eia stared them both down, her arms crossed. “There’s no need for you to get hurt.”

“See?” Brinia pleaded with the girl, trying to get her to stop. “Do as she says and stand down, please-”

“I didn’t mean _that_ Alistora.” Eia chuckled just slightly. “Stand down, Brinia.”

Brinia turned to face her, slowly backing away from between them, her heart beat loud in her ears, horrified. “Eia, please-”

“Submit and I won’t kill them all, that was the deal. Now do as I say and stand down.” Eia smiled, handing the bundle of blankets off to the dryad. “Now trust me.”

 _Trust her._ Brinia silenced herself, nodding miserably. _This isn’t about you, Brinia… this is about them…_

Fennecca snarled, hating the way her mother was being spoken to. She attacked first, but nothing really came out of it. Sure, the minx woman was an adult, but she had a long way to go. 

Eia didn’t even need to wield her own weapon against the girl, she just let Fennecca lunge at her with the magical blade. Within the blink of an eye, she had forcibly disarmed the girl, slamming her back against the wall, holding her by both wrists, broken and unbroken. 

“O-oww!!!” Brinia’s daughter snarled at the wendigo, squirming to break free from the monster’s grasp, and Brinia just about lunged in to save her. 

_Trust her, Brinia._ She stood there and prayed, watching this all unfold in front of her and leaving it up to Eia. _Come on…_

“This doesn’t have to be painful, girl.” Eia simply taunted her, playing for just a moment. “Do your mothers both a favor and stand down.”

“And let you tear my family apart from the inside?” Fennecca shouted, tears in her eyes. “What’s next, putting one of those hideous monsters in my mother’s womb, is that it?” 

“Oh dear… I’m not trying to break your family.” Eia grinned, holding onto both of the minx’s wrists with her hands, gently leaning in and placing a kiss on the girl’s forehead. “I’m trying to add to it~”

“You…” Fennecca quieted down, grinding her teeth together. “You’re what?”

“Now I will admit that I still don’t understand you people and you’re families, but I am willing to give it a shot.” Eia turned back, glancing at the dryad for a moment, pleased that Brinia’s was standing down and not interfering. “But why settle for two mothers when you can instead have eleven or twelve?” 

Her fingers uncurled from Fennecca’s broken wrist, not wanting to hurt it anymore than she already had, in fact, she wanted the opposite. Fennecca stood down, letting the wendigo grab her by the hand, bringing the girl’s broken wrist to her lips, and gently placing a magical kiss upon it. 

“There…” Eia let go of her, watching Fennecca carefully rub her wrist with the other hand. “Give that a little bit of time to rest, and it should be fixed when you wake up in the morning… how’s that?” 

Fennecca blushed, smiling just a little bit at that. “You healed it, you mean?”

“Because your mother has been behaving, yes… so don’t take that for granted.” Eia sighed, turning away and stepping back towards the rest of the group. “What?”

Brinia just stood there, staring up at her with a false sense of security painted onto her face, appreciating the gesture, however minor. “Thank you.” 

“You and I need to talk, Brinia.” Eia’s face and voice were stern, demanding. “You all have your orders, now go… I need the dryad to myself until we get home.” 

Brinia both hated and appreciated hearing that. She had made **a lot** of mistakes that she needed to quickly make up for. “Whatever you say…” 

Fennecca almost left without saying goodbye after that, but not before Arleena could stop her, still just barely inside of the door. 

“Wait.” Arleena quickly grabbed her by the still healing wrist, not nearly as painful as it had been. “You forgot about the sword.”

Fennecca paused, seeing the sword in the wraith’s hand and slowly nodding her head, sighing as she reached down, about to grab the sheath from her waist and hand it off to Arleena.

“Here.” The blue blade shone in the light as Arleena held it out towards her, gesturing for Fennecca to take it. “Keep it.” 

“I…” Fennecca’s eyes went wide, still tearing up as she stared at it. “You mean it?”

“Of course I do.” Arleena smiled, sliding it into the sheath for the girl. “I don’t need it anymore.”

“Arleena.” Eia was about to stop her, but the elf girl had made up her mind.

“You said it was mine, didn’t you? That means it’s mine to give away as well, like you did to me~” Arleena smiled, wiping Fennecca’s tears away for her. “It’s name is Montemaster, it means _my master’s blessing_ in elvish… and I want you to have it.”

“I… I…” Fennecca was choking up now, on the verge of sobbing. “Thank you so much…” 

“We’re off then.” Arleena smiled, patting the girl in the back. “Good luck, kiddo… once I’m out of waiting, maybe I can teach you how to use it~” 

“Y-yes, please…” Fennecca smiled, watching as Arleena and Eiranee embraced one last time before leaving, quickly doing the same with her own mother before heading out with Eiranee. 

“Where shall I take the kitten, Ma’am?” Valonda smiled, taking the bundle from her master. 

“Off to the tannery at the edge of town. If anyone can make use of her, it’s probably Norko.” Eia smiled, seeing her slave off. “Check up on her for me, make sure she’s safe, alright?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Good girl.” 

And that finally left Brinia and Eia, alone together at last.

“Eia, I-”

“Consider the transitionary period between person and slave over, Alistora.” 

Eia was not happy with the dryad, not in the slightest. 

“You have caused me so much trouble this last week, and exposed myself and my brides to the public eye for the very first time in a very long time, and I hope you now understand the gravity of the situation you find yourself in.” 

Eia was beyond upset. 

“We’re going home Alistora… and once we get there you had better expect not to see her or the people of Thorn for a very very long time.”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry…” Brinia choked up, struggling to keep her facade up. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, I swear.”

“I’m sure you didn’t, but no matter… I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

“I’m not, Ma’am… I’m so sorry…”

“That’s enough, Alistora.” Eia sighed, tired from a long day of work. “Save it until we get home.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” Brinia nodded, obediently following after the wendigo. “Whatever you say.”

Eia took a deep breath in and out, extending her hand towards the girl and binding her with a dazzling white leash, magically extending from her slave’s collar to the ring. 

“Come along, slave. Follow me~”


	20. Honeymoon

“What is that, Izona?” 

Eia curiously looked over the sword, its strange blade glowing a pale blue in the cold moonlight shining in from outside of the bestiary. “And why does it glow?”

“I don’t know, Eia.” Izona set the weapon down on the table beside her, checking the doors to make sure that no one wasn’t around to catch her. “I stole it from my husband’s weapon horde.” 

“Mon-te-mas-ter…” Eia peeked over the edge of the table, sounding out the syllables and reading the strange elven glyphs carved into the blade. “My Master’s Blessing?”

“It’s a magical relic from the fallen Elven kingdom to the north…” Izona sighed, trying not to think too hard about where it had come from. “It’s supposed to mean Master in the sense of one’s teacher, but…” 

“It’s like a slave master, got it.” Eia stood, wobbling just slightly on her furry hind legs as she picked up the sword, lightly swishing it around. “Can I use it?”

“It’s way too small for me, so yes- that’s why I grabbed it, didn’t I?” Izona was packing bags, trying to sneakily prepare to run away from home while her husband was away. “But please don’t get too fixated on the master and slave part.”

“Why not?” Eia tilted her head curiously, unsure of what the problem was exactly. “What’s wrong with slaves?”

“Nothing is wrong with **slaves** , they’re innocent in all of this, it’s **slavery** that I despise.”

“Despise?” Eia sent the sword back down, stretching out her back as she stood there trying to release the tension of being held up in her cell. “Why do you despise it?”

Izona clenched her eyes shut and sighed, shaking her head at the beast’s strange way of thinking. “Because it’s not natural-”

“Sure it is.” Eia giggled at her, leaning against the table behind her. “Better beast on top, bitch on the bottom, it’s perfect.” 

“It is **not** perfect, Eia.”

“Sure it is!!” The wendigo chuckled, dropping back down to her four limbs and trodding up to the eleven foot tall giantess. “That’s just how life is, isn’t it?” 

“I don’t know where you get that idea, but no.” Izona shook her head, standing upright as she looked down at the smaller creature. “No, it’s not how life is.” 

“It feels natural, though.” Eia stood upright as well, trying to look bigger in the face of the giantess, who still stood five feet over the wendigo at her tallest. “Maybe we can enslave Ollik and make him do our bidding, you know, as revenge~” 

“Sit, girl.” Exasperated, Izona called Eia down from whatever it was she was thinking of doing, making the wendigo get back down onto the floor, which she slowly but reluctantly did. “We’re not enslaving my husband, we’re leaving.”

“But-”

“No buts, Eia.” Izona stomped one foot, shaking the whole house around them. “I already freed the rest of his animals, now you have to get out of here before he gets back, or he’ll kill me and toss you back into a cage, alright?”

Eia paused, Izona’s words ringing in her fuzzy ears as she slowly processed them, angrily buzzing at being compared to an animal, her clawed fingers twitching with a bloody hunger. “Not if we kill him first.”

“There is no **we** , Eia.” Izona was distraught, her voice carrying a sorrow that the wendigo didn’t often hear from her. “I set all of his animals free, including you… now you need to go, okay?”

“Wait-” Eia scoffed at it, she wasn’t about to leave without Izona, she was supposed to belong to Izona. “You’re not coming with me?” 

“I’m freeing you, Eia… just like the other dogs, you’re free now.” Izona turned to her, face painted over with a miserable frown. “I’m not your master anymore, and neither is he… I’ve freed you from that.”

“Dogs don’t talk!!” Izona’s voice curled into a whisper as she shouted at the wendigo, pointing towards the door for the other girl to leave. “I can’t take care of a pet, I can’t even take care of myself… I’m giving you this sword so that you can defend yourself, now please… leave…” 

“I…” Eia’s mouth hung open with shock and despair, staring up at the pseudo-giant from below, still on all fours. “I’m not a dog…” 

“Eia…”

“I’m not a dog.”

“You know that’s not what I meant-”

“I’m not a dog!!”

Eia stood, her entire being seething with rage at being reduced to something so little as an animal, a dog. But that was apparently how the other woman saw her, not as a companion but as a pet, and she was abandoning her. Did Izona really think so little of her?

Did Izona really think of Eia as nothing more than an animal and a nuisance?

The wendigo grabbed the sword and its sheath, turning away from the other woman and heading towards the door. They could both hear the echoes of Eia’s angry voice through the otherwise quiet woods, and they knew that meant trouble. So Eia stormed off, her weapon at her side as she left the pseudo-giant behind her, leaving Izona to her fate.

She was trying to keep quiet, but the emotion of the situation got the better of them both. Izona heart ached as she watched Eia walk away, knowing very well that within mere minutes, Ollik would be back to investigate the noise, and he was not going to like what he saw. 

“I’m sorry, Eia…” Izona broke, her tears finally flowing from her like a river. She couldn’t hold it back any longer, she needed to let go. “It’s for your own good…” 

She couldn’t kill Ollik, he might have been a heinous person, but Izona loved him, and she could bare watching him die, she couldn’t leave his side no matter how hard she tried. She was stuck… but Eia didn’t have to be. Eia could run away, but Izona couldn’t come with her. 

“You worthless fucking animal…” Izona picked up the mask, still lying on the floor of what had been the wendigo’s cage, unsure of whether she was talking about Eia or herself. “Please… please forgive me…” 

The last thing Izona wanted was to have to watch the wendigo leave her side, but what other choice did she have… she didn’t want to abandon her, but she couldn’t find the strength to fight on with Eia at her side. She neither had the ability to protect Eia, nor the power to survive watching Eia die, if something bad happened to that woman while she was under Izona’s protection, the pseudo-giant just wouldn’t be able to live with herself.

It was for the best. 

“I’m sorry…” Izona clutched the skull to her chest, falling to her knees and into a sobbing fit, unable to keep herself together after pretending to be okay for so long. This was the day the giantess was going to die, and she didn’t have the fight in her to prevent that. She didn’t have the heart to stand up to the man she once loved, no matter how far he might have fallen, he had done it in the name of protecting them. “I’m so sorry…”

“ **What happened, Izona?!** ” Exactly as expected, her husband, Ollik, was not happy with her when he got home. “ **What did you do?!** ”

“I couldn’t take it anymore…” Izona just knelt there, on the floor crying as he walked in. Her suitcase was empty save for a single dagger wrapped in a bundle of blankets in case she got the strength to stand up to him, which she hadn’t. “I’m sorry…”

“Where’s the dog…” Ollik’s eyes honed on the empty cage beside her, rather than on his crying wife there on the floor. “Where’s the dog?!” 

“I set her free, Ollik!!” Izona snapped, screaming back at him as he berated her. “She’s not a dog!!” 

“Like hell she’s not a dog!!” Ollik slammed the door wide open as he stormed inside. “Why would you do this?!”

“Because you wouldn’t listen to me!!” Izona looked down, her tears dripping onto the mask she held in her hands. “I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen to me…” 

“You sniveling little bitch!!!!” He practically screamed at her, kicking the empty cage across the room with a single strike with his foot before leaning down and clutching Izona by the throat, hauling her up to her feet and slamming her back against the wall, despite her weight. Izona was as heavy as a pseudo-giant should be, but the goliath had an abundance of strength necessary to ferociously manhandle her, like he had many times before in their years together. 

“Ollik, please…” The mask clattered to the floor at their feet as Izona clutched her husband’s hands with hers, pleading for mercy. “I love you…” 

“That’s not good enough, Izona!!” Ollik fumed, slamming her against the wall as hard as he could before ragdolling her against the wall several times, despite being shorter than his wife. “If you think love is going to protect us from a warlord attack, then you’re wrong!!” 

“But Ollik!!!!”

“Don’t **but Ollik** me, Izona!!!!” He picked her suitcase up off of the otherwise empty table and smashed it onto the floor at he and Izona’s feet, watching it bust open and spill its contents out onto the floor below. “If you really loved me, you wouldn’t ruin our chances of survival, and you definitely wouldn’t brandish a knife against me!!!!”

“I wasn’t planning on-”

“ **ENOUGH!!!!** ” Ollik threw his arm overhand, stabbing the dagger straight downwards and into his sobbing wife, stabbing her directly in the torso, right into her womb. 

“Ollik…” Izona clutched her belly, slowly bleeding out onto her own hand as she dropped to her knees, unsure whether the world around her was real. “No…”

So this was it, this was where she died. Izona just sat there in petrified horror as Ollik flew into a rage around her. Her heart was full of sorrow, but the only thing she could think of wasn’t how scared she was, it was how glad she was that the wendigo had gotten away. After all, if she couldn’t protect herself, how could she ever hope to protect the person she loved. 

_Oh Goddess… I really do love you, Eia… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry I couldn’t come with you…_

Izona fumbled with herself, vision and hearing slowly fading as she brought her blood soaked fingers to her mouth, staring at them intently, directly at her wedding ring… her and Ollik’s wedding ring. 

_If I whistled, would you come?_

Izona winced, slowly pulling the ring from her finger and setting it back down onto the floor below, bringing her now bare fingers to her whispering lips, blowing through them, whistling for the monster one last time. Ollik was a monster, but he wasn’t Izona’s monster. She just wanted to see **her** monster one more time. 

_Would you come save me from this? Would you save me from myself?_

“Alright, that’s it…” Her call only attracted this monster. Ollik stood over her, staring down at the mask there on the ground, wishing he could shatter the beast’s own skull to a million pieces, but his wife was going to have to do. “You let my beasts go… so now you’re going to get them back for me…” 

Izona didn’t even have time to ask how, as Ollik slowly lifted his axe from his waist before she got the chance to respond. “I’m going to need a lot of monster bait, Izona…”

He raised his axe above his wife with both hands, ready to split her in two right there on the spot. Izona couldn’t move, she couldn’t stop this, she was helpless. So she closed her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks as she braced herself for death, dreading where she would end up. 

“Izona…” She heard a voice, the sound of a woman calling out to her, someone she recognizes. “Are you still with me, Izona?” 

“Eia…” Izona’s eyes slowly fluttered open, desperate to see her face. “Eia?” 

“I’m here…” Eia smiled, cupping both of Izona’s cheeks in her hand. “You’re safe… I promise.” 

“What…” In a panic, Izona’s eyes bounced around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. “Where is he?!”

“You passed out…” Eia hushed her, trying to get her to calm down as quickly as she could. “I heard you call…”

“You… you did?”

“I did…” 

Eia, the loyal loving creature she was, ran back as soon as she heard that sound, and right when he was about to end his own partner’s life, Eia sent Montemaster’s glowing blue blade right through the man’s throat, and cleaved his head clean off. 

“I did it, Izona… I killed him… for us.” Eia swallowed nervously, her hand on the giantess’ belly. “You lost a lot of blood, but I patched you pack together as well as I could-”

And Izona sobbed, breaking down once again, her whole life falling to pieces around her. “I couldn’t leave him… I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay.” Eia gently brushed Izona’s thick head of magenta hair from her face. “I don’t blame you.” 

“You’re not mad?”

“I’m not mad, I promise.” 

“Thank you…” Izona sobbed, her tears dripping onto the floor below. “Thank you for coming back…”

“Hush…” Eia cooed at her, picking the mask up from the ground beside them and gently placing it upon Izona’s face, trying to protect her. “Dogs don’t talk~”

“I’m not a dog-” That sure did get a genuine, albeit stressed, chuckle from the pseudo-giant. “And neither are you…” 

“Look…” Eia picked Izona’s wedding ring from the bloodied tile below, fiddling it in her hand as she gazed longingly at her own fingers. “I know you think I’m just an animal, but-”

“You’re not. You’re so much more than that.” Izona reached out, curling Eia’s fingers into a fist around the wedding ring. “I know that… I’ve always known that. I just wanted to protect you.” 

“But you don’t have to protect me.”

“Eia-”

“Be mine, Izona…” Eia held the giantess’ hands in hers, squeezing tightly. “Be mine and I’ll protect you, I swear.” 

“You deserve so much better than what you’ve got, Eia…” Izona shook her head, still sobbing behind that mask she wore. “Don’t stick with me just because I’m here…” 

Eia paused for a moment, her heart aching in her chest as the other woman spoke. So much of Eia and so little of herself. “Quiet now…” 

“Please… I’m sorry-”

“I said be quiet, now listen to me when I speak.” Eia frowned, uncurling her fingers from both Izona and the ring. “Do as I say, Izona.” 

And Izona did, the only sounds that came from her lips were soft sobs and whimpers as she looked on at Eia in both fear and adoration. 

“We’re going to get out of this together, and I have an idea…” Eia smiled, bringing the ring to her face with her palm, before knocking it back into her mouth and swallowing it whole. “I’m going to need you for this.”

“What do you need from me~?” Izona smiled, curling her fingers into Eia’s, holding onto her hand as tight as she could. 

“Have my babies, Izona.”

  
Eia sounded so confident saying that, but Izona froze, gazing longingly into those eyes the wendigo wore so openly. “What?” 

“Not right now.” Eia reassured her, reaching out and taking the mask from her face and setting it aside for the time being. “But someday~” 

“I… I would love to someday…” Izona smiled, her cheeks bright pink. “But I’m not sure how that’d be possible~”

“Well that’s the thing…” Eia was also blushing, staring down at the skull mask. “Promise you won’t laugh?”

Izona couldn’t help but let out a giggle. “I’ll try…”

“No…” Eia plucked the mask from the floor, pressing it to her face. “It’s magic… let’s just leave it at that-”

“Noooooo.” Izona sighed, pulling the mask away from the wendigo so that she could talk. “Please, this is the only thing distracting me from my dead husband’s corpse-”

“Orgasm with my mask on and you’ll get pregnant.” Eia blushed, plucking the mask once again from Izona’s hands. “There… okay?” 

Izona blushed, trying to keep herself from laughing, but failing miserably. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding.” Eia pouted back at her, holding the mask out. “Why do you think it’s so precious to me?”

Pluck. Izona took the mask from the wendigo’s paw, threatening to put it back on her own face. “If it’s so precious then why did you leave it here with me?” 

“Because if I can’t have kittens with you, then I don’t want to have kittens with anyone~” The two women stared into each other's eyes, gazing lovingly at each other, the silence hot between them. 

“Out of everyone in the world-” Izona blushed, clutching the mask to her own chest. “You want **me**?”

“I do…” Eia smiled, holding her paw to the giantess’ belly as her face got closer and closer to Izona’s. “I won’t force you to say yes, but do you want to be my bride?”

“Yes, please.” Izona hummed happily, reaching out and finally pressing her lips to Eia’s for the first time, sweeping the wendigo’s heart away in an instant. “I do…”

And what happened next to those two women was something so magical that it really should stay private. 

That night belongs to them. That’s their moment, it belongs to Eia and Izona. Just them, nobody else. 

And it’s always going to stay that way.

↞✶↠

“You…” Izona had tears in her eyes the moment Eia and Brinia returned home, her normally calm and cheerfully upbeat voice shook as she spoke. “You had me worried sick…”

“I know.” Disregarding Brinia for just a moment, Eia stepped towards Izona, gently wrapping her arms around the girl. “I’m sorry.”

“I heard the sounds and everything.” Izona pressed her crying face to the wendigo’s chest, falling into her for protection. “I wasn’t sure I was ever going to see you again.”

“Hush now.” Eia smiled, gently placing a kiss onto the giantess’ forehead as she held her tight. “Dogs don’t talk~” 

Izona giggled happily, saying nothing more as she nuzzled her face into Eia. 

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Brinia smiled, holding the mask out towards her new master and watching her take it from her hands. 

“Thank you.” Eia smiled, pointing towards the den with one hand. “Head inside and keep out of trouble, see your sisters, take care of yourself… rest.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” More than eager to be by herself again, Brinia let the two of them be, heading towards the den in front of her, seeing Arleena waiting in the door for her, holding it open so that she could get inside. 

“Arleena…” Brinia nervously stepped towards her, unsure of what she even wanted to say to the girl. “I just want to say thank you for-”

“I don’t care.” As soon as Brinia was in the den, Arleena hopped towards her, wrapping her arms around the dryad and letting Alistora wrap her arms around her in return. “We’re even, okay?”

Brinia swallowed nervously, squeezing onto Arleena as hard as she could, embracing the girl- her sister. “Okay…” 

“I’ll see you when I get out, I promise.” Arleena slowly pulled away, smiling at the other girl. “Valonda’s sending me to the waiting chamber because of you~” 

“Good luck.” Brinia frowned, taking Arleena’s words the exact wrong away. “I’m sorry about the baby, I really am…”

“All in the past.” Arleena smiled, her grey cheeks blushing. “If you hadn’t healed me when you did, I doubt the other one would have lived~”

“Yeah…” That much at least did make Brinia smile, just a little bit. “Maybe not…”

“Alright you two, my back is **killing** me over here!!” Now that wasn’t a voice Brinia had heard in a good few days. “My kittens are gonna claw their way out of me just for holding the door open too long~” 

“I’m coming, Zaikana!!” Arleena turned, smiling at the fire genie in the doorway. “Just a moment~”

“You should go, Arleena… I’d hate to keep you waiting.” Brinia smiled, nervously averting her eyes from the other girl. 

“Alright alright but-” Arleena sighed, biting the bullet and leaning in towards the dryad, giving her one kiss on the cheek before turning tail and scurrying off into the waiting chamber. “There… for good luck~”

“Thank you.” Alistora smiled, rubbing her cheek as she watched the wraith leave, heading out of sight as she reached the waiting chamber. 

“Hey, you.” 

Zaikana still stood, hand on her baby bump, very visibly pregnant with Eia’s kits now in a way that she wasn’t when Brinia first met her. 

“Look, we’re still not friends, and I don’t know what you did to help her, but-” Zaikana didn’t wait for a response from Brinia, keeping her eyes on her enemy as she spoke. “Thank you for helping her~”

“Of course.” Alistora smiled at her, relieved that the flame genie wasn’t still enraged at her. “Thanks.”

“And be careful with the wendigo.” The fire queen scoffed. “She’s mine too~” 

Brinia wasn’t quite sure what the other woman meant by that, but that was all she had to say. Zaikana turned back into the room and headed inside, letting the door shut tight behind her. 

“One of these days I’ll understand what you people see in her…” Brinia rolled her eyes, clinging onto the over the shoulder bag that she forgot she had been carrying. “I swear-” 

“It’sss not **that** complicated, you know~” Tishula, who else would have such a hiss in their voice, was sitting here in the grand chamber with them, sitting atop what minimal furniture they had to rest on as she sewed. “She’sss tough on usss, but she doesss love usss, in her own hyper weird sssort of way~” 

“Ignore ‘er, Alistora.” Noriza was right there with Tishula, physically next to Tishula, but kind of against how venomous she was being while she waited for the medusa to finish repairing the yeti’s clothes. “You’ll figure it out, pinky promise~” 

“Thanks, you two.” Brinia sighed nervously, remembering the trip she had just been on, pulling the magical little pocket mirror from her bag and staring down at it. “Is Marima around?” 

“In the bath with Demma, yeah~” Noriza smiled at her, nodding towards the door to the bathing chamber. “Just be careful-”

“They’re having sssex again~” Tishula cackled, giggling like a schoolgirl. “They’re alwaysss having sssex, it’sss kinda what they do~” 

Noriza giggled back at Tishula’s comment. “You wanna ‘ave sex after this, Tish?”

“Oh, absssolutely~” Tishula hissed excitedly at that. “I get the feeling that Massster is going to be busy tonight, anywaysss.” 

Brinia rolled her eyes, stepping towards the bath chamber door and peeking inside of it just slightly, confirming to herself that those two lovebirds were in fact having their own fun in there. She clutched the mirror to her chest as she promptly closed the door, before sliding the mirror back into her bag. “I guess I’ll leave those two alone.”

“That’sss what I wasss sssaying~” Tishula smiled eagerly, holding Noriza’s tunic back up for her to take. “There, all done!! Play now??” 

“Who knew medusa’s made great guard dogs~” Noriza giggled, slipping her tunic back on before scooping the snake lady out of her seat, holding the smaller and lighter woman in her arms. “We’ll go to the breeding chamber just for fun, eh?”

“I don’t know what my ssslavesss were complaining about, really~” Tishula sighed eagerly as she was carried off in the yeti’s arms. “Thisss isss a perfectly fine way to live~”

“Probably cuz you were such a ragin’ bitch, Tish.” Noriza taunted her as she kicked open the door to the breeding chamber. “Come on, you’re makin’ the dryad uncomfy~”

Brinia sighed, watching the two of them head off to play, leaving her alone in the chamber. “I guess I’ll leave you two alone as well…”

↞✶↠

Eia set the staff down on a fancy new weapons rack in her chamber, a keepsake swiped from the dryad’s cabin before they left, specifically built for holding onto the Hollow’s Heart. 

The mind inside of the weapon, Gala, was interesting to speak to, but you couldn’t just start a conversation with her. She had no soul of her own, she was basically just Brinia’s lost memories in a bottle, which meant she was somewhere between person and object, just like the slaves were. 

And just in front of it, Eia placed her mask, setting it aside for safekeeping. 

One. Two. Eia picked up her trusty bone dagger and began carving into herself, severing her large antlers at the base and snapping them off of her head. 

Deer lose their antlers once a year due to a drop in hormones following their rut, and wendigos did similarly, though Eia was jumping the gun a little bit and shedding hers early. 

Wendigo of course, were a strange combination of different animals- including rabbits, deer, jackals, and most especially human. At least, that’s how Eia was, though that last bit could vary from creature to creature depending on what species the wendigo’s mother was. 

She sat in bed alone, tossing her sheds aside as she contemplated what being a wendigo actually meant- or more accurately, what it meant to be a monster. 

Large and frightening sure, but you’d have a hard time definitively convincing the masses that Eia Madaerie was an “ugly” creature once you’d seen her pure physique, shockingly human and beautiful. 

Tossing human ethics aside for a creature who can not naturally understand or abide by them, Eia was an animal, but so were humans. So were all of her brides. 

Baby deer are known as fawns, while the adults are known as bucks if they’re male, or doe if they’re female. Likewise, male rabbits were also known as bucks, and Eia was a doe, because that’s you’d call a female rabbit, and a wendigo. Though she was a doe, she collected her harem as if she was a buck, taking on several mates at once to breed them, quickly and rapidly pumping out young like a rabbit.

Baby rabbits were known as kittens, and so too were Eia’s young. Her kittens were small, like jackalope, rabbits with deer antlers protruding from their heads, just as mythical of a creature as the wendigo herself. 

Eia might not seem like a great mother, but her behaviors were far more natural than one might really assume them to be. Like rabbits, obsessed with survival, wendigo will eat their young, but only if they are forced to- and in the face of living alone with ten mates and no food to go around for several days, yeah, Eia Madaerie might feel like she is forced to in a volatile time like this past week. 

They abandon their young within days or weeks, letting them wander out on their own as soon as they are ready. This helps keep the baby wendigo away from their parents, because once they’re born, their mother feels nothing for them. It’s best for them to disperse, find their own territory away from their mother so that they can survive on their own. 

Quantity over quality meant that there were more chances for the species to continue on and survive, and the further they are from each other means less competition between siblings. Abandoning them at such a young age also meant less mouths to feed, Eia Madaerie simply can’t feed dozens upon dozens of children and still be able to care for her brides. Their strange animalistic nature meant that there was less likelihood of their mothers getting attached to them.

There were male wendigo, theoretically, but Eia had yet to see one. Growing out of being a ravenous jackal monster meant that the wendigo had grown past the jackals monogamous tendencies, and was now ready to build a harem and mate. 

She didn’t know why, but all that seemed to go through her head so much of the day were thoughts about mating and having babies, otherworldly obsessions of proliferating her species, for their survival. It was like something was forcing those instincts upon her, and so the wendigo naturally changed to suit that. 

Could being a strangely cruel and wicked person really make her a monster if she herself didn’t really think or act like a person? 

Maybe she didn’t feel for her young like they did, but she certainly felt for them, her mates. 

Wendigo mates were known as brides, bound to them by rings, they were inherently magical creatures. Placing a collar around her brides necks was a natural rite for her, a symbol of ownership and control, loyalty and devotion, it was about endless undying love and protection. It was about keeping the ones she loved safe at all costs. 

Shedding her own antlers was not a decision she made lightly, it was intentional. To try and help the people of Thorn see her less like a monster and more like a person, and she hated that she had to do it, but she did it.

For her. 

Door shut tight behind her, Eia was finally alone, her soul shaking inside of her body. 

She really was trying to be patient, but over the last several days her hunger had been growing. She wanted to be alone with Brinia Alistora, not just wandering through the woods together, but alone here in her chamber together, just them. 

Claiming Brinia as her own might have been the most controversial decision she had ever made, but she just couldn’t help herself, what was she supposed to do- kill the girl?

The intimacy that the two of them shared on the battlefield was electric, she was a woman like no other. She hated to admit it, but Brinia was special. 

And everything that was happening to her and her brides was that girl’s fault. 

If she hadn’t attacked her bride, they would still be living on opposite ends of the woods, despising each other. It could have been any of her brides too, but if it had been Izona, the dryad would have died at the wendigo’s hands already. If she hadn’t dedicated her entire life to those people in that village, she’d have nothing to protect, nothing to fight for. 

If she hadn’t done that thing on the battlefield, that tiny tiny moment of weakness, Eia might have ended her life then and there, and that would have spelled disaster for her and her brides. The people would have rushed after her, eager to kill her and her mates. 

But Brinia Alistora, precious and beautiful, gave. 

The moment she saw that staff of hers in someone else’s hands, the moment she saw that maybe just maybe someone else could lift her holy burden from her shoulders, she gave. 

Maybe just maybe Brinia Alistora didn’t want to fight anymore. 

And she was just too proud, kind, and selfless to admit it. 

Eia Madaerie was far from selfless, but for the chance to keep Brinia Alistora as her own she might very well do anything at all, out of pure selfishness. She was growing more and more annoyed at each and every one of her other brides as the days went on, getting jealous of them. 

The moment Brinia Alistora closed her eyes and gave up was the moment Eia Madaerie knew she was the one. The single most important person the wendigo had met in her entire life, and she was now the woman’s prize. 

She didn’t want to slaughter the people of Thorn, she wanted to subjugate the archfey. 

She was going to subjugate the archfey. 

She was going to subjugate Brinia Alistora, and the archfey was going to lay down and let her. 

↞✶↠

Cerilla opened the doors back out of the den, through the entrance chamber and back outside into the mother’s chamber, summoning and escorting her inside. 

And there within the hollowed out tree was the gargoyle, Zawdra Cumulus Nightingale, muzzled, blindfolded, chained, and bound.

With her den mother’s approval, Brinia gently tugged the blindfold from the elemental’s face, watching her eyes go wide with excitement as she saw the dryad. 

“Hey, there…” Alistora smiled, unclasping the muzzle from Zawdra’s head, removing it from her face. “No bites, got it?”

Nightingale remained silent, her eyes terrifyingly distraught as she glanced around, unable to think, let alone lash out. The initial angry rage had since subsided and made way for… whatever this was. 

“So…” Cerilla stood behind the gargoyle, watching over them both to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. “Can you understand her?”

“Yes.” Brinia smiled, pressing her palm to the woman’s stony cheeks. “Her thoughts are like an animal’s now…” 

The dryad had a natural affinity for understanding wildlife, which now, strangely, included Zawdra. 

“She’s scared.” Brinia frowned, gently caressing the skin of her cheeks. “She’s so scared and so confused. She knows something is different, she can tell that something is wrong with her, but she can’t figure out what it is… and that terrifies her.” 

Cerilla shuffled uncomfortably behind the girl, her ankles occasionally being swatted by the woman’s tail, now slowly swishing back and forth at irregular intervals. “I’m sorry for molesting you when I did, Nightingale…” 

Zawdra’s eyes seemed to flutter shut, just a little bit affected by those words, biting down on the inside of her own cheeks, heating up ever so slightly. “Grrrr…” 

“She didn’t like hearing that.” Brinia swallowed nervously, metaphorically tilting her own head ever so slightly. She could communicate basic thoughts and feelings with the woman through magic, but Zawdra seemed strangely unmoved by Cerilla’s apology. “If anything, it almost seems like she’s more distraught by other memories… and she’s a little bit upset to be remembering them.” 

“Other memories, huh?” Cerilla frowned, gently tapping Nightingale’s back with her foot to get her attention. “Do you remember Cinna?”

Zawdra’s eyes seemed to glow slightly, her tail swishing picking up steam, kicking up dust from the floor behind her. She remembered Cinna alright. 

“Cinna?” Brinia could tell that it was an obvious yes, and she was picking up a mixture of good and bad, but mostly positive emotions, from the gargoyle’s brain. But now she was just concerned to be hearing about someone so important to her own lover that it would dredge up an array of happy memories of someone that the dryad had never so much as heard of from the woman. “Who is that?” 

She wasn’t even sure if she was asking Cerilla that, it was almost like she was questioning Zawdra about it for never telling her. But nevertheless, the hobgoblin did at least respond. “So she never told you, huh?”

“Told me what, Najistrae?” That one was to Cerilla, something was off, and she needed to know what. 

“You’re going to want to brace yourself for this, hon.” Cerilla sighed, taking a seat on top of her desk behind her. “Zawdra’s been keeping a lot of secrets from you.”

Nightingale indeed did seem to be reacting to this, almost shamefully, the feelings Brinia was picking up from her were as close to regret as she’d felt from a beast. 

“She would never.” Brinia frowned, but even she couldn’t convince herself that Cerilla was lying. “You’d never…” 

“That wasn’t the first time she’d been raped by a hobgoblin, you know.” The hobgoblin stopped, taking a brief glance around the room before elaborating. “I’ve known her longer than you have, Brinia…”

“You have not-” Brinia choked, seeing in Zawdra’s eyes that it was true, the woman now unable to keep a poker face. “How is that possible?”

She just frowned, remarkably resembling her former self. “Nnnnngh…”

“She was a slave, Alistora.” Cerilla smiled just a little bit, admiring the other women in the room, occasionally glancing up at the ceiling. “Just like you and me~”

“But she never said anything about that.” Brinia continued to pet the gargoyle’s hair, trying to avoid her sharp horns. “Why did she never mention it?”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s ashamed of it, but you’d have to ask her that.” Cerilla sighed, trying to keep a straight face, staying stoic. “She was a pet-”

“ **Scraaauuwwr!!!!** ” Zawdra snapped, eyes glowing furious red with emotion at just the mention, losing herself at that.

“Hey hey hey, it’s okay.” Brinia cooed, quickly calming her down, petting her hair to keep her together, Zawdra had always liked being rubbed in just the right places. Head scratches, nuzzles, and ear pinches resonated with her. “You’re okay.” 

“She doesn’t like thinking about that, hearing Cinna’s name is hard for her, because it reminds her of what she was-”

“This is hurting her.” Brinia’s heart was swelling. “Being like **this** is hurting her, Cerilla.” 

“I know it is.” Cerilla frowned, her eyes following a slight bit of movement around the room. “But I don’t know how to fix it-”

“What’s wrong with her…” Brinia grinded her teeth, angry that she couldn’t figure it out. Zawdra didn’t understand because she had been reduced to the mentality of an animal, but Brinia didn’t understand either, and that infuriated her. “Is there anything at all we can do to help her?”

“We can sit tight and wait.” Cerilla swung around to the other side of her desk, sliding open one of the drawers. “I am going to suggest that we place a steering stone inside of her.”

“A steering stone?”

“It’ll help us find her if she gets lost.” Cerilla held up a very small blue crystal, twisting it between her fingers. “And it’ll steer her back to us if she decides she wants to return to our feet.”

“How does it work?”

“We just need to plant one inside of her and-”

“ **Scrraaaughgggwwrrrrr!!!!!** ” Zawdra shook her head desperately, tears in her eyes as she snarled, almost looking like she was about to throw up. 

Cerilla hopped up from behind her desk. “What’s she doing?”

“I don’t know, she’s… retching?” Brinia put her hands on Zawdra’s shoulders, trying to settle her down. “What’s wrong?” 

Zawdra held open her mouth, hissing as she spat up onto the floor, regurgitating an almost identical blue crystal from inside of her and picking it back up, holding it in her mouth.

“Is that-” Brinia began to reach out for it, but before she could even get close, Zawdra snapped her jaws shut, refusing to let her take it away. 

“That’s a steering stone, but I didn’t put it there… unless-” Cerilla gasped, setting the other stone back down into the tray it’d come from and swinging around her desk, crouching beside the gargoyle again. “Unless I did, didn’t I?”

Zawdra, the dog, wanted to back away from the both of them, but could only succeed in continually dodging them with her head, and completely swallowing the gem, putting it back down. 

“What does that mean, if she’s already got one inside of her?”

“The steering shard is a piece of a larger gem, whoever has the core of the crystal it came from can connect to her, find where she is, and potentially lead her back to them.” 

“But who would have that?” Brinia sat, calming back down as she tried to ration it out. “If not… her former master.” 

“Cinna.” Cerilla’s voice turned stern, concerned by the thought of that. “Surely Zawdra wouldn’t have kept it if she knew Cinna still held onto the other end though, so it can’t be.”

Zawdra’s pointed ears, shamefully, began to lower. Her cheeks glowed just a little bit with embarrassment hearing them say the hobgoblin’s name again. 

“Zawdra… you wouldn’t…” Brinia frowned, her eyebrows furling. “That’s dangerous…”

“Oh the dangers of imprinting…” Cerilla sighed, standing over the two of them. “She always was a loyal dog…”

“ **Grrrauuwwrrr!!!** ”

“Right, not a dog… just a slave.” 

“Is that why you never told me about her?” Brinia blushed, sighing as she caressed the gargoyle’s cheeks, unsure of what to do. “You… **miss** her?”

Brinia didn’t know what to think about that. Sure, it was common and excusable for someone to have an unhealthy attachment to their abuser, but this was just a little bit too much, this was Zawdra Nightingale, surely she’d be different.

“Cinna was her world, Alistora.” Cerilla sat back down on her desk beside them. “Of course she misses her.” 

“I…” Brinia choked, slowly scrambling to recompose herself. “I think I need to go.”

Sullen stoicism, that was the mask that she chose to hide behind, pretending that everything was fine when nothing really was. 

Cerilla had to stop Zawdra from scrambling after her. “Where are you going?”

“To make things right…”

Miraculously, despite the den mother not having approved the dryad’s passage through the doors, they made way for Brinia, and she left, not even so much as bringing her bag with her. 

“I…” Cerilla paused, unsure of how the door had opened for the girl, but impressed nonetheless. She chuckled, staring up and into the rafters, rolling her eyes. “Right, that’s the only explanation for that, huh?”

“Rrrrmmmphhh…” Zawdra whined, sad to see that the dryad had gone, now whining at Cerilla for her attention. 

“We’ll figure things out, don’t worry.” Cerilla stood at ease, turning back to look down at the gargoyle, who curiously- had something in her mouth. “What’s that?”

Clenched between her teeth was a little pocket mirror, having dug it out of the bag Alistora had left behind, depositing it into the hobgoblin’s palm when asked. 

“A spying stone?” Cerilla scoffed, surprised to be seeing one. “Where in the world did she get a spying stone?”

She recognized it as another form of Najistairean magic and technology. The little compact mirror was small enough to fit in one’s pocket, and it had a small cloudy grey jewel embedded into the outside of the shell. 

It was used to spy on people from close and from afar, it could pinpoint and show you anyone in the world depending on who they were, though more powerful creatures could simply deny or shake off the connection in the event that they sensed it happening, such as the case of Akziel the abuser, Eia Madaerie, or even Zaikana. 

But it could probably be used on lesser creatures to a much greater effect.

“Cinna Stormheart.”

All one needed to do was say their name, first and last. The magical mirror needed both to be able to find someone. Valonda was really annoying like that, no steering stone of last name to help guide one to her, but Cerilla’s little sister had one kickass name. Say the full name and think of them in your head and the two surfaces of the mirror would show them to you, one view through their eyes, and one view as if they were the one looking into the mirror themselves. 

Nothing. Cerilla clicked open the mirror, and it did nothing. 

And that couldn’t spell anything good for her former right hand. 

“So that’s why you never scratched out her symbol…” Cerilla frowned, snapping the mirror back shut. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

No steering stone could bring Cinna Stormheart back to her slave’s side if she was dead, unfortunately, which meant that Zawdra keeping the little blue gem inside of her was just yet another keepsake from the woman who she once belonged to. 

It was strangely peaceful for Cerilla however, she was sad yes, but she also felt relieved. 

“You were right, Zawdra…” She sighed, setting the pocket mirror back down into the bag it came from. “I should have let you be there to protect her… I’m sorry.” 

Zawdra Nightingale, the poor precious pet never did get to fight alongside her. Cerilla never let her. She must have waited for Cinna to come back, all for it to just never happen. The steering stone could guide a slave back to her owner, but she could only follow it so far before the distance became too great. 

If Cerilla knew Zawdra at all, and she did, she broke free of her bedpost and searched and searched and searched for Cinna in the Eternal Hollow until what was left of the Najistairean’s were nowhere to be found, leaving her here alone and forgotten.

Abandoned like a lost dog without an owner.

“Mark my words, Nightingale… I’m gonna fix you if it’s the last thing I do… I promise.”

And Nightingale finally seemed to appreciate Cerilla’s words. 

↞✶↠

**Thud.** In her flustered and frustrated panic, Brinia collided head first with the door to the den, unable to open it. 

“What the-” She groaned, rubbing her now pained forehead as she firmly pressed her hands against the door, trying to push it open. 

And it didn’t budge. 

“Cerilla…” She sighed, exasperated. The den mother had led her outside personally, opening the doors for her, but she had clearance to leave the mother’s chamber, didn’t she, that was her?

She took a few short steps backwards and watched as the door to the entry chamber opened, seemingly on its own, but Brinia now knew better than to believe what she was seeing. 

“Thank you…” Brinia sighed, stepping past what she could only assume was the still invisible Valonda, who she now realized had not only followed them into the mother’s chamber just to spy on her, but had also been polite enough to open the door back out for her, and was now doing the same for the front door to the rest of the den. “Please don’t follow me in…” 

“Y-yes, Madame protector…” Valonda’s voice was nervous as Brinia addressed her, letting her inside and closing the door behind her, presumably doing as she was told. “Good luck…” 

_This can’t wait any longer, Alistora… you have to do this… I have to do this…_

If Zawdra Nightingale could suffer through a lifetime of being a slave and still turn out alright, then Brinia could too. It had only been a week, but it felt like it had been an eternity of wasted time. 

_Brown, grey, red, orange, yellow, cyan, blue, purple, pink._

_Demmara, Arleena, Cerilla, Zaikana, Valonda, Noriza, Izona, Tishula, Marima._

_They don’t matter… they’ve never mattered. This isn’t about them, this has never been about them._

Brinia had survived to the end of the gauntlet just fine, but she didn’t feel like any more a part of the group than she had started. None of those glyphs, including her own green glyph, matter in the slightest, not anymore. 

There was only one glyph in this den that mattered, and it glowed a radiant white light. 

Only one woman in the world mattered to Brinia right now.

Eia Madaerie. 

Her heart still weighed down by the terrifying force of the shackle clasped around her hardly breathing throat, Brinia paused for a moment to collect herself, trying to ready herself for having her breath stolen away, and then she knocked on the door.

There were a good few seconds of unsure silence as Brinia wondered if her Master was even on the other side of the wooden barrier, but before she could think to turn away and search elsewhere, she heard the wendigo's voice. "Enter."

She glanced upwards, the glowing white light of the glyph above the doorway reflecting in the dryad's eyes. 

"I can't open the door, Ma'am…"

Silence. Eia said nothing in return, nor did Brinia hear any movement from inside of the chamber at all. There was no change in the magic of the glyph, no flash of light, no ease in the weight of its power.

_You'll open to Eia's will, won't you?_

Eia controlled this door. Only those who Eia trusted could open up the barrier to her heart.

_Does she trust me enough to let me open this door?_

Brinia looked up at the magical glyph keeping the door closed, putting her hand on the wooden barrier, staring at it for a few moments, and then she pushed.

The door gave way, letting the dryad into the chamber with her master.

"Close the door behind you." Eia was on the bed waiting for her. "Is there something you need, Brinia?"

"I should be the one asking you that, shouldn't I?" Brinia stepped inside, doing as she was asked and making sure that the door back out of the chamber was completely shut. "Is there something you need, Ma'am?" 

"I'm afraid you'll have to be a lot more specific than that." Eia was completely naked, no armor, no cloak, no weapons, and no mask. "What brings you here?"

"You do, Ma'am." Brinia stepped forward, taking a deep breath as she tried to remain calm and composed. If there was ever a time to strike down the wendigo, it was now. But that wasn't going to be happening. 

"I don't recall summoning you, Alistora." Eia looked strangely human like this, just laying down in her bed to rest. Even more so now that the two of them had returned to the den, her antlers now inexplicably missing.

"You don't need to summon me, Ma'am." Brinia smiled at her, trying not to let the wendigo's sheer power faze her. Nothing was going to be scaring the dryad away this time, especially not Eia. "I'm here to attend to you."

"Attend to me?" Eia smiled, flattered to think that the dryad was trying to gain the wendigo's trust. "What's this about?"

"It's what I should be doing, is it not?"

"What makes you want to attend to me all of a sudden?"

"There's nothing sudden about it, Ma'am." Brinia bit her lip, holding her hands steady in front of her hips as she bowed, bending over at the waist. "It's been a few days, but you said that I was to serve as your handmaiden, so that's what I'm here to do."

Eia smiled eagerly, sighing in delight watching the dryad show her master the respect that she deserved. "So you haven't forgotten after all~"

"No, Ma'am. Not in the slightest." Brinia shook her head. "What good would I be if I couldn't so much as remember what you want?"

"You look awfully beat up." Eia observed. "Wouldn't you prefer a few days to recover?"

"It's not that I wouldn't, Ma'am, I would love a few days off. But I don't want to keep you waiting any longer." Brinia smiled at her, trying to stay respectful. She was not going to fail this time. "I've had a hard few days, but I'm ready for this… I know that I can trust you not to hurt me." 

"You really don't think that I'm going to hurt you?" Eia scoffed at just the idea of it, cackling lightly under her breath. "You think I'm going to go easy on you just because you've had it a little rough?"

"I'm trying not to think about it much at all Ma'am…" Brinia stepped forward on her own accord, unwilling to wait until Eia called her forward. "I'm choosing to trust you, Eia."

Eia looked her over, examining her slave's body as she approached the side of the bed. "You trust me to do what, exactly?"

"I trust you to protect my people, and I trust you to protect me." Brinia stood there, smiling at her master with a pinkish red blush on her yellow green face. "May I join you in bed, Ma'am?"

Eia pushed the covers aside, making room for Brinia beside you on the bed. "Undress first, and then you may."

Brinia did as she was told, stripping herself down and presenting her naked body to her master. "I wanted to give my submission to you to ensure the safety of my people. I wanted to **earn** it, but I'm not trying to earn it anymore…" 

Eia beckoned Brinia to climb into bed, so she did, jumping up onto the beside and slowly crawling towards her. "Then what brings you to my side, dearest?"

"Because I have no power in this arrangement anymore, Ma'am. Like I said, they're already in your hands, and I trust you to protect them." Brinia crawled directly up to Eia, the only decoration adorning her body being the black and silver metal collar clasped around her neck. "Instead of giving myself over to try and earn their safety… I want to give myself to you as a way to thank you. To show you how grateful I am."

Eia reached over, gently fiddling with the charm on Brinia's collar. "To thank me?"

"Thank you, Ma'am. Thank you for choosing to protect them. I know you didn't have to, but you did, and I'm so happy that you did." Brinia smiled, her cheeks blushing as she spoke, realizing the position she was putting herself in by climbing into bed with Eia. "This isn't about them, I promise… I've already entrusted them to you, all I can do now is show you my appreciation." 

Brinia paused for a moment, before reaching out and putting one hand onto Eia's waist, feeling the wendigo's soft skin. "Gratitude bestows reverence, Ma'am…"

Eia did the same, placing her soft fuzzy hand on Brinia's cheek. "Do you revere me, slave?"

"I revere you, Eia Madarie." Brinia didn't flinch or pull her head away, instead she pressed her cheek into the other woman's palm. "I still have to learn and grow in a lot of ways and this is going to continue to be difficult for me, I know that and I admit that this still isn't something I want, at least not fully… but I realize that I have a lot to thank you for, and I admire and revere you for it, Ma'am." 

"And that is most certainly a place to start." Eia sat up, pulling her hand away from the dryad's face. "Give me another little speech so that I can be sure you know your place… and then we can get to know each other~"

"I don't like being a slave, and to this date I have never desired to be one… but that doesn't mean I am unwilling or unable to **be** one, because I recognize that that's what I am now…" Brinia took a deep breath and bowed her head slightly, sitting up on the bed and putting her open palms face down on the sheets. "I no longer think of you as a monster… you are an individual, a person, a woman, and most importantly… you are my master. I say to you these things not out of disrespect, but out of honesty, you should know how I think and you should know how I feel… And I'm going to continue to be honest with you, Master…" 

"I am ashamed of myself for it, but there's a small part of me that likes this, Master… and I could hide that from you, but I'm not going to… and it's because of that little part of me that I am simultaneously thrilled yet utterly ashamed to say something like this, but…" Brinia's face turned red with shame as she closed her eyes and lowered her head, facing down at the sheets below. "However depraved this is going to make me sound… I am your slave, and I think I may enjoy being humiliated, Master."

Eia's already excited grin widened at the revelation being handed to her by her stubborn little dryad. "Is that so?"

"It is… At least I think it's so, Ma'am…" Brinia nodded her head, still not opening her eyes. "There's something primal and wrong about the feelings I've been feeling… from being on the end of Zaikana's leash, squealing in pain for both Tishula and Izona, to roleplaying with Demma and Marima…"

"And how long have you known about this, my dear?" Eia smiled eagerly, already knowing the answer to that. 

"Ever since my bridal vows, Master…" Brinia opened her eyes, her face still flushed with shame. 

"And how did those vows make you feel?" Eia pressed her for more, sitting up and facing the other girl, her height and size naturally allowing her to tower above her slave. "Your daughter was in attendance to witness them, was she not?"

"She was… and I'm sure she didn't think much of them." Brinia gritted her teeth. "She's long been prepared for the day that something happened to one of us… she lost her parents early on after all."

"Fennecca, yes? How old is she?" 

"Is this the getting to know each other part of the evening, Ma'am?"

"It is indeed, so I expect eager and honest answers from you~"

"She's fourteen."

"And was her other mom in attendance as well?"

"We're not married, she was just my girlfriend, we weren't even together long enough to get sexual, and she wasn't there… Not that I could see her anyways, and I'm sure she wouldn't have been very happy to hear my vows…" Brinia swallowed nervously. "But I liked them…"

"I'm sure you did… they were nothing to scoff at." Eia smiled, continuing to muse it over in her own head. “Out with it then, you and Nightingale, go.” 

“She was my apprentice.” Brinia’s breath hissed with indignity as she spat out the truth, laying it at Eia’s feet. “I took over as lady protector during the siege after the golem’s attack killed Arleena’s mother, and once all was said and done I found her out wandering the woods and I took her in and gave her a reason to fight.”

Brinia herself was beginning to unravel as she continued to detangle the web she and Zawdra had created. “I taught her not just how to fight but how to protect so that one day she could take over as lady protector, and she did, just like I asked.”

“And your romance?” Eia spurred her on, prying the new slave apart for details. 

“It wasn’t a romance at first, it was platonic.” Alistora scoffed at herself, kicking her own head for not realizing how much of a dog Zawdra really was. “I’m a warrior and a protector, not a lover. All I wanted from her was someone who could take over in that role so that I could stop being the lady protector and focus on raising my daughter… and Nightingale did that and so much more.” 

Brinia was beginning to worry herself with how much information she was giving away, but she kept going, reminding herself it was for her own good, and for the good of the village even more so. “The village needed a lady protector, and Fennecca needed a mother, so there was a period of time… before Zawdra could be lady protector, where she was Fennecca’s mother instead.”

“She did everything you asked of her, without question~” Eia grinned, delighted by the recounting of the dryad’s personal life. “Like a slave.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be like that, she just… did as she was asked. Whenever I needed to fight some monster that she wasn’t ready for, she stayed behind and looked after my daughter. But I never did anything that wasn’t consensual, I never made her do anything that she was against doing.” She swallowed, heart aching as she remembered Zawdra Nightingale in her earlier days, considering for the first time that just maybe she had been working the woman to the bone, because maybe the gargoyle’s upbringing as a slave taught her never to argue against what she was told. “I’m only attracted to someone once we have a close bond, I’m demisexual.”

“And what about your liaison, when did you and the gargoyle get close enough to get sexual?” 

“I already told you that we didn’t, it never happened, it couldn’t. She doesn’t, Zawdra never forms sexual attractions. Both with Arleena in the field and Cerilla in her chamber, I touched them like that because of you, you put that trance on me, but I never touched Zawdra like that. I didn’t rape her, I’m not a monster…” Her guts were churning inside of her, revolted by the memory of watching her new den mother molest the gargoyle, and being helpless to stop it from happening. “Oral. That’s all we ever did… oral. She pleasured me because she knew I liked it, and she enjoyed the taste of my pollen. That’s all.”

“The two of you have quite the history together, wouldn’t you say?” Eia smirked, finally satisfied enough to move on. “But enough about her, you belong to me now.”

“Yes, Master.” She took a deep breath and nodded. "I take it that you've already spoken to her then… since you know about us already?"

"I have indeed… Miss Nightingale wanted to make me Lady Protector~"

"I should have known…" Brinia looked up, her eyes going wide at the revelation. She smiled, heart practically leaping from inside of her. If Zawdra could somehow find it in her to turn power over to the wendigo, then Brinia could as well. “And you can do it… I know you’ll do amazing at it, Master… I just know it.” 

"Careful girl, don't go idolizing me like some hero… I've just kept my end of the deal…” Eia should have expected this kind of reaction from her, but she was still delighted to be hearing it. “I’m not sure if you’re exaggerating your confidence in me for your own benefit or for mine, but you ought to settle down~”

“Yes… I’m sorry…” Brinia sensed just a little bit of tension, and did her best to readjust her course. “I do think it was a little bit of both, to be fair… but I trust you.”

“You, Brinia Alistora, the original lady protector, trust me to take over for you?” 

“After last night, yes… I trust you…” Brinia swallowed nervously, feeling the dazzlingly sharp claws upon the monster’s fingertips scratching her scalp. “I’ve never met another creature with the sheer power to protect them until now… but I know you can do just as well as I can, if not better.”

“And you’ve known that for a while, have you?” Sharp claws tapped their way from Brinia’s hair down to her cheek, lifting her sullen chin just slightly. “That’s why you gave, isn’t it?”

“I don’t want to stop protecting them, Ma’am.” Brinia struggled not to instinctively pull her chin from the woman’s hand. “But if I must, I must… you defeated me at my best… and now you get to reap the rewards.” 

“But that’s now what I saw in you that night, is it?” Eia’s right index finger ran along the girl’s jaw, gently caressing her. “That’s not what happened.” 

“I don’t quite understand what you’re getting at, Miss.” 

“Your pride bites me, Alistora. I don’t like it.” Eia’s thumb now rested on Brinia’s bottom lip, effectively silencing her. “If your pride is going to get in the way of your loyalty to me, then it’s your duty to swallow and destroy it.”

“Master…” Brinia’s lips resting against Eia’s finger, trembling. 

“I saw behind that mask of yours, just like you saw through mine…” Eia continued to gently pet the dryad’s face, admiring her beautiful physique. “I don’t want honor filled whispers from your lips, slave… not if it only ends in lies. Lies won’t protect you.” 

Brinia paused, just listening now. She was receptive to the woman’s words, genuinely and eagerly, she was trying to actually listen, not just sit there and eye roll through it. She was hearing what she was saying to her, and desperately trying to take it to heart. Telling herself that it would be okay, admitting to herself, internally, that Eia was right. 

“You gave. I watched you.” Eia’s eyes glistened in the dull light of her chamber, illuminated by eerie torchlight. “The moment you saw the Hollow’s Heart in my hands, what did you do?” 

“I…” Brinia paused, unsure of what she even meant by the words she was about to say it. “I lost it…” 

“You lost what?” 

“I don’t know.” Brinia bit her lip, carefully not to graze Eia’s fingers with her teeth. “But I know I lost something when I saw your face… and I don’t know what that was.” 

“I admire you for what you did in those few moments, dryad. I’d never seen someone look at me like that.” Eia smiled, the memories of that night still painted vividly in her mind. “I saw something in you~”

“What did you see in me, Ma’am?” Brinia’s teeth grinded together, keeping themselves inert and unable to strike back, locked close. “Please…” 

“Promise.” Eia gently retracted her paw, letting Brinia relax. “You closed your eyes and you made yourself helpless, all on your own. You let me take you.”

Brinia was frozen again, unsure of how to continue without the wendigo’s touch on her skin.

“You had a look of promise in your eyes, a sense of hope like I’ve never seen before, not from an adversary, not from a stranger…” Eia took Brinia’s hand in hers, gently raising it. “You gave yourself, just for a moment~” 

“You were so… human, Master…” Brinia’s pride fell into her, clutching her master’s paw as hard as she could. “I just thought… that maybe…” 

“Yes.” Eia encouraged her, guiding her along. “Just like that… go on~” 

“I can’t do it anymore… I can’t keep fighting… not like that. I saw her so eagerly fall into your hands, and I just…” Brinia let her words follow, pulled out of her with ease. “I thought maybe it would finally be someone else’s turn to protect them.”

“Never.” Eia held her hand, firm, placing her other paw on the dryad’s waist, watching her wince. “It’ll always be your duty to protect them.” 

“Why…” Brinia choked up on her emotions, pride and rage bubbling back for a moment before she felt Eia’s finger on her lips, silencing her. “I just want them to be safe…”

“And they will be safe, I promise you.” Eia shushed her, gently pulling the girl to her chest, holding her there. “They will always be safe, as long as they have you here in my arms, to protect them~”

“How can I protect them?” She pressed her forehead into Eia’s chest, beating herself for her own weakness. “I’m not their lady protector anymore…”

“But you’re always going to be their lady protector, don’t you see?” Eia once again ran her fingers in the girl’s hair, wrapping her arms around her. “But the only way to protect them now is to do as I say, and trust me to keep them safe~” 

Brinia felt Eia’s arms around her, holding her close. She didn’t fight them, and Eia didn’t have to fight back against her resistance. She hated that the words were coming out of her, but she had no other choice but to say them. “I trust you… Just tell me what to do, and I’ll trust you to take care of the rest…”

“Then serve.” Eia hummed, delighting in the dryad’s defeat, here in her arms. “That’s your purpose now, to serve me and none other… in order to protect them.”

“Yes-” She choked on it again, that word. But saying it now was far more important than anything that her pride could do for her. “Yes, Master.”

“Good girl~” The dryad’s words were music to the wendigo’s ears. Eia reached towards Brinia, running her fingers through her newest bride’s beautiful green hair. “The petals in your hair are quite to my liking, slave~”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Brinia sighed, letting herself willingly be touched, presenting herself to the wendigo like a compact flower garden. “I grew them out just for you.”

“I saw~” Eia wasn’t too bad once you got to know her. From within her arms, the world feels like it belongs to her. “Thinking of your master, as a slave ought to be~” 

“Please…” Brinia bit her tongue, swallowing her mortified disgust and terror at the thought of belonging to Eia, knowing that it was her place now. “Please let me serve you… I won’t fail you again…”

Eia held Brinia there for just a couple of moments, before prying the dryad from her chest and gently laying her down on her back on the bed, her wendigo overlord towering over her. "Do you know what happens when you physically hurt me, Alistora?"

"We can feel your pain, just like you can feel ours… all of us…" Brinia lied there, looking up at Eia from below. "It's to keep us from trying to kill you, isn't it? To keep us from trying to escape…"

"So you've noticed… Yes, it's an evolutionary thing, to keep us from hurting and killing each other. If I hurt one of my brides, I hurt myself, and if one of my brides hurts me-"

"We all feel pain, don't we Master?" Brinia had noticed over her time here that sometimes she would experience a little twinge of pain in her throat every once in a while. "Not just one of us, but all of us… It's to keep us in line, right Master?"

"Right you are my clever little thing…" Eia smirked devilishly. "What do you think happens when one of my brides feels pleasure, then?"

"Pleasure?" Brinia paused, her face turning bright red. "Is it like the way you feel our pain… you feel our pleasure?"

"When one of my brides orgasms… so do I~" Eia growled under her breath at the defenseless forest sprite on the bed beneath her. "So what do you think happens when _I_ orgasm?"

"No…" Brinia's eyes lit up with both excitement and shocked disgust, staring down at Eia's cunt as she continued to cower beneath her master. "I can do it this time, Master… I swear…"

"If you think you can bring me to orgasm, then by all means, go ahead." Eia backed away, letting Brinia climb onto her hands and knees, leading the girl to her master's cunt like a wild animal. "But I will warn you now, I am sure to make this a rather humiliating endeavor for you~"

"I'm counting on it, Master…" Brinia wanted to just dive into Eia's cunt and get this over with, to prove her worth as a slave, but before she could, the wendigo stopped her.

“Not quite so fast…” Eia smiled eagerly, keeping Brinia waiting just a little bit longer. “Master will lead~”

“Yes, Master…” Brinia bit down on her cheek, her tears welling in her eyes from the fear. “I’m at your mercy, I swear.”

“And you always will be…” Eia led the girl to her master’s cunt personally, hooking the front of her collar, the symbol of Eia’s ownership over her, with her finger, and bringing the dryad’s lips to her labia, the dryad’s backside still firmly raised, while her head dove towards the wendigo’s mercifully human genitals. “Now serve, eat until I tell you that you’re full~” 

_This is for them… they need you to protect them…_ Brinia had to remind herself of why she was here, to remember why she needed to do this. _She needs you to protect her…_

It wasn’t any easier than it had been the first time, Brinia still found herself disgusted by the feeling and taste of even just her captor’s clit against her tongue, starting small. She still struggled not to pull back and gag, hurling on the wendigo’s own bed in an attempt to not vomit directly onto her, but she held fast and kept going. She needed to do this, because if she couldn’t, there might not be another chance. 

Her upper lip rested against Eia’s rather prominent clitoris as she slipped her tongue past Eia’s labia and into her cunt, taking in the tastes and the smells. 

And when she once again wavered and instinctively pulled her head back in disgust, trying to escape her fate, this time Eia’s paw was there to stop her. 

“No.” Eia grabbed her by the back of the head, preventing Brinia from pulling her head away, and the dryad was endlessly grateful for that. She couldn’t possibly do this on her own just yet, she needed to be forced. “Last warning.” 

And Alistora was so happy to be getting that last warning, allowed just that one little slip up to recement her fate in her mind, to internalize to herself that there would be no escape for her, not from Eia Madaerie. 

Her breath went raspy as she kept going, having had quite enough practice with her new sisters to now know what she was doing, all it took was for Brinia to get a few shots at something for her to master it. 

And she had gotten just that. 

She pressed her face further into the predator’s hungry cunt, eating her inside out, thick rigid tongue running along the inside of Eia’s vagina. Alistora’s tongue was heavily textured, thorny, scratchy, more than enough to overstimulate a normal woman, and her master was living for it. 

Like a wicked bitch, Eia bucked her hips into her slave’s face, snapping her head backwards, disorienting her. Her recovery was just a little bit too slow for the wendigo’s liking too, because before she could shove her face back into the woman’s cunt, she was having it done for her. 

The vice grip of her claws tightened against the back of Brinia’s head, forcing gags from her lips as she slammed into Brinia again, keeping her breath held tightly hostage as she gave the dryad just a little taste of how things were going to be with her, under Eia’s complete control. 

Alistora had just enough time to get used to the feel and taste, and become comfortable enough with her new position to the point of pushing past her initial fear. She could do this.

She kissed the wendigo’s two thick labia with her wet lips, salivating at the salty taste of the fluids spraying down her mouth. 

This was going to end badly for the dryad, and she wasn’t quite excited for that.

Gods, this would be embarrassing to have to sit through, let alone live through, and Brinia was meant to be an angelic warrior. 

She was the chosen of a high angel, she wasn’t meant to be bent over backwards, sucking some beast’s cunt, yet here she was doing just that, and it was going beautifully. It brought Eia immense pleasure to know that she was conquering such a creature, but not nearly as much pleasure as the dryad was finally bringing her. 

_Mine… All mine…_

After this, she was Eia’s and Eia’s alone. If her other brides wanted to play with their new sister, they were just going to have to ask.

“Oh how the mighty fall~” Eia taunted her from above, knowing very well that the dryad was in no position to retort as she dragged the girl’s face mercilessly deep into her master’s cunt. “You certainly do look prettier once you’ve been properly planted don’t you, my little flower?”

For all of the pleasure she got from feeling her brides play with each other, there was nothing in the world quite like this. Toying with the dryad was one thing, but there was nothing better than taking a once prideful and confident girl and watching her squirm between your legs for the first time, desperate to please her new master. Eia was finally getting to see Brinia succumb to her after resisting it for so long. 

And to volunteer herself for it after just about the longest day of the faerie’s life, Alistora was practically asking to be humiliated. 

The wendigo licked her lips, patiently watching as the former guardian planted kisses between her legs. It was the perfect ending to a not so perfect day, but it was exactly what needed to happen and Eia wasn’t about to deny herself for Brinia’s sake, not now that it had begun.

She would have let the dryad off the hook, just for today, but now that she had gotten a taste of it, Eia was going to get her pleasure one way or another. 

Either Brinia would succeed in bringing her master to a finish, setting her pride aside to do so, or she would make a fool of herself and fail miserably, in which case the wendigo was going to have to force it out of her. 

“You’ve wanted to give up power as the lady protector for some time now, and I am more than willing to take that power from you.” Eia ran her claws over the back of the dryad’s neck, watching little goosebumps slowly form. “You belong to Master now, my dazzling little slave, and it’s time for you to do like a dog, and enjoy your treat~”

Five razor sharp claws ever so slightly pierced her skin, pulling her like a puppet into her master’s muff, face full of salty sweet wendigo pink. The crushingly tender folds stuck ever so slightly to Alistora’s face, hot sweaty and salivating for pleasure.

Gross. Even after a day like today, Eia was strangely clean, but somehow it still didn’t help. Brinia’s own sweat drew out the wendigo’s, wetting mouth and cunt alike, but she pressed forward. She could lick all she wanted, but pitiful little tongue strokes weren’t going to earn her master’s favor. 

_This is it, it’s now or never~_

She pinched her eyes shut and dove forward, going for it, her mind only on Eia’s pleasure, senses tuned into signs that it was working. 

Brinia parted her otherwise nervous lips, pushing her tongue past the outer folds of Eia’s vulva and deep into her master’s vagina, curling her bristly textured tongue upwards. 

Eia’s breathing went deathly silent in that moment, her grip on the dryad’s neck loosening, as if the wendigo herself couldn’t quite believe that Brinia was actually getting serious. 

This was going to be fun, not just for Eia, but for Alistora as well. Brinia was a very specific kind of fighter, not a soldier, but a monster hunter. 

What in the world Brinia was doing down there Eia couldn’t tell, but Brinia could be sure that the monster liked it. Breeding brained these monsters always were, suckers for pretty girls to grind against, but never quite used to being bitten back against. 

Eia was a large woman, her proportions oversized to match, there was absolutely positively no way for Brinia to reach this monster’s cervix with her tongue, but she could get close. After all, what good did having two hands if she wasn’t going to use them. 

She dug her own fingers into Eia folds, dull and rounded off, safe to paw at without breaking skin, massaging externally right where the wendigo’s cervix would be, knowing just how painful and sensitive that part really was. From experience, Brinia knew that the feeling of having her cervix pounded against with any significant amount of force was excruciating, and she cursed herself for not having a tongue as long as a gargoyle. 

Brinia did not know or care where Eia’s hands were at that moment, she would know the moment that it mattered where they ended up on her body, and not a second sooner. 

She looked and felt stupid doing it, but she slowly began to fall into just a little bit of a rhythm. Her texturous leafy tongue grated against the wendigo’s walls, sliding in and out, pressuring the clitoris above internally. A few occasional flicks of the tongue did them both good, letting herself salivate against new pieces of her master’s insides kept Eia on her toes, her slave getting just that much more comfortable with being where she was with every swipe. 

She pressed her lips to the other woman’s crotch, sucking ever so slightly, her smell and taste overrun by Eia’s natural musk, heaviest right here at her cunt. It was bad, but it was getting easier by the second. 

Then Eia’s twitched, her leg thudded against the mattress beside her, and her whole body shook, just slightly. Brinia, the curious faerie woman she was, wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing. That was a whole lot of sudden movement for Eia, who was normally not so jittery. 

She opened her eyes, looking up, nervously surveying for the wendigo’s reaction. Her hands, folded into Eia’s abdomen, pressed down onto the wendigo’s cervix and womb as Brinia lifted herself up, pulling her face away from the monster’s cunt. 

“Master?” The slave’s eyes darted back and forth, unsure of whether Eia was hating or loving this.

And Brinia knew where the wendigo’s hands were the moment it mattered.

 **Smack**. Eia swatted the girl square in the face for daring to pull herself away, thwacking the right of her head with her left, paw colliding with Brinia’s skull. 

She reeled, just a little bit, left physically and emotionally vulnerable after that. A slap to the face was one thing, but those rings of hers, they hurt. They hurt more than they really should, but Brinia could take intense amounts of pain, so she was surprised that a single strike upside the head bothered her so much. 

It might have been just a little bit cruel to be so harshly smacked in the face for a single slip up, but Brinia knew the rules. The last time she tried to pull away, Eia stopped her. She already had her last warning, and this was what she got for not heeding it. It wasn’t nice, it wasn’t fun, but it was fair. 

And it was nothing to cry about.

So she had made a mistake when she thought she was doing good. Eia had allowed her one slip up, and she repeated the exact same mistake and gotten slapped for it. She wasn’t being yelled at, and her loved ones weren’t being threatened, she was just getting what she was promised, a physical scolding. 

That’s why it hurt so much, it was a physical slap to the face to make her feel her own mistake. It hurt because it was Eia’s way of telling her slave that she was being bad.

“Nnnngh…” Brinia didn’t say a word, and neither did Eia. She just got back to work, putting her tongue deep into Eia’s wet cunt, now secure with the knowledge that her master was liking this. But this time, Eia’s cunt wasn’t the only thing that was wet. 

Alistora could feel just a little bit of juice dripping out from her tiny little flower, as a little dew droplet hung from her labia, ready to fall like a raindrop to the forest floor. 

_Stop being so nervous and do your job, hold still and suck cunt, that’s all you have to do. Don’t worry if it’s working or not, if it needs fixing, I’ll fix it._

Eia didn’t say it out loud, that would be overkill, but she sure did think it. The girl didn’t need to be preached to, she just needed a little bit of course correction. 

Her master had ten brides in total, but this one was different. Out of all of the brides she’d broken in, no one was quite as mentally challenging as Brinia Alistora. 

Izona and Marima were as easy as can be. Arleena and Noriza were just scared. Tishula and Demma were just sad. Zaikana and Cerilla were just angry. Her first time with the harpy was the only thing this even remotely resembled, and Valonda was a completely different thing entirely, because even then there was no difficulty with her. 

But Brinia Alistora was a challenge- one that Eia was hell bent on breaking. 

_Harder._

Eia shoved her own cunt into the dryad’s face, withholding her hands and watching Brinia desperately squirm and whimper, trying to keep her mouth glued to her master’s cunt. 

She was worried and nervous for a moment, her expression going soft as her eyelids fluttered open, gazing up into Eia’s eyes for help.

And then that all went away, because the moment Brinia got a good look at her prey’s face, she was reinvigorated with the strength to continue the hunt. 

Eia grinned, admiring the newfound determination in her slave’s eyes. She didn’t even know what it was that Brinia just saw, she couldn’t see what face she had given the girl, but it was helping. 

“Harder.” She said that one out loud, surprised to hear just how out of breath her voice was. The dryad, strangely, was doing a number on the wendigo without Eia realizing it, and that just wouldn’t do. “Harder or I’ll do it myself!!”

“Nnnnmmph…” Mumbles and a slight bob, the shake of her head sealing herself into a grim fate. She realized the mistake she had made the moment she made it, and her sullen pleading eyes peeled themselves open like the skin of a fruit, beading with terror. “Nnghhhckk!!!!”

She had hoped it inaudible, but she knew that Eia heard it. She shook her head, ever so slightly, and told her master no. There was no way for Brinia to roll that one back, certain that her master had taken notice and immediately begging for remission with her wails, murmuring into Eia’s vulva.

And her absolution came in the form of another slap to the head, thumping her in the back and driving her deeper onto her captor’s cunt, radiating pain into the back of her skull. 

_Bad._ Brinia instantly refocused her efforts, picking up her speed and beginning to suck on Eia’s cunt, now to her own detriment, forgetting to breathe. _Bad._

There were two basic responses at her core that Brinia, like all slaves, was receptive to. Threats, disappointment, admonishments, and scoldings all boiled down to- _Bad girl._ While pets, praises, congratulations, and rewards all simplified to- _Good girl._

And Alistora was only getting that first one right now. 

That little dewdrop of hers couldn’t keep clinging to the crest of her own labia any longer, Brinia’s juice droplets began to run down her thigh, replaced by even fiercer dampness behind her. For the first time since she had gotten here, Brinia was just the tiniest bit turned on without being in a trance. Though despite the fact that it was happening, it was still slight, and she wanted to more than anything else right now to just die. 

If she could kill Eia right here and now by rubbing her face into the wendigo’s cunt, she would. But she couldn’t.

She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t pleasure Eia on her own, Brinia Alistora needed to be in a trance for this. 

She **wanted** to be in a trance for this. 

Eia could very clearly see Brinia’s hands scratching against her own collarbone, desperate for one of her glyphs to activate. 

“Alistora.” Eia stopped her, pulling the girl’s head from her own cunt by pulling on her hair. “Are you really so weak and pathetic that you need a glyph for this?”

“Master, I-” Brinia just stared up at her, her mouth hanging open in shame. She didn’t want it to be true, but it was, and she was so sad that it was. She wanted to do this on her own, but she couldn’t. “Yes. Yes, Master. Yes please, yes. Yes.”

“No.” Eia stared straight into her soul, and denied her. “On the floor.”

“I’m sorry!!” Brinia’s face turned red hot with shame at her own weakness, feeling Eia wrap her claws around the head of her collar and toss her slave onto the floor beside the bed. 

“Your apologies are sickening.” Before Brinia could sit up, Eia was on top of her, beating down at her from above, pinning her on her back on the floor below. “Now heel.” 

_Pop._ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten ring clad knuckles echoed with a terrifying pop as Eia cracked her knuckles, each and every one of them reverberating. 

And they all terrified the slave below, knowing she was going to be on the receiving end of them all. “No.”

**_Thwack!!_ **

Eia pounded Brinia in the face with an open palm, smacking her upside the head for her insolence. “You do not tell me no, slave. Not once, not twice, not ever.”

**_Thwack!!_ **

Another slap to the face from the other side, just as powerful as the first, and just as crushing to the soul. “Now be a good little flower-”

**_Thwack!!_ **

She reeled, rings thudding into her face like ballistics. “And gracefully let yourself be trampled~”

**_Thwack!!_ **

Brinia couldn’t take this. Her heart already ached from one thud to her delicately trimmed face, but this was going to kill her. 

“Aaaaaahhhhhh~!!!!” Brinia shouted, crying out in pain, her cheeks bright red with anger and shame. “Stop!!!!”

Brinia, mercifully, got a brief respite from Eia’s palms, but only because her master stopped to catch her slave’s arms by the wrists before she could try and use them to shield her face.

She looked on in horror at the excitement in her master’s eyes as she interlocked her fingers with hers, pinching each of Brinia’s fingers between her rings, and twisting. 

Brinia **screamed** . First there was a **pop** , and then a **crack** , and then a **snap** , until all of that was drowned out behind her own wails. Her fingers broke at the base, crushed between her master’s dazzling platinum rings, the black bands rubbing raw against the skin of her hands.

Eia snarled, slamming the backs of her slaves hands to the floor beside her head, satisfied by the crunching sounds of her bones beneath her master’s. “Apologize-” 

“I’m sorry!!!!” Brinia squealed like a pig, breaking beneath the weight of Eia’s paws, agonized and tortured by her aching body, hotter by the second and quickly realizing her own mistake- correcting for her own horrific stupidity. “ **Master!!** Master!! I’m sorry, **Master!!** ”

“Much… **much** better~” Eia smiled, licking her own hungry lips as she lowered herself towards the lesser archfey- the lesser creature- crushed beneath her master’s weight. All **hers** for the taking. All hers for the **breaking**. “Bloom for me, my little tulip~” 

Eia was an evil beauty up there, pressing her lips firm against her slave’s, wetting her appetite with a stolen kiss, straight from her flowery little lungs, and right now- she was Brinia Alistora’s favorite person in the entire world. 

Raw, powerful, strong, beautiful. She was capable of trampling Brinia to death without the girl’s fussing doing much of anything, and anything else was just rubbing it in, humiliating the dryad. 

Helplessly accepting a kiss on the lips from the woman currently tearing into her face and breaking her bones was the most purely debasing thing that the former lady protector and angelic warrior had ever done, cutting her pride from her at the stem. 

And then suddenly they connected.

 _Click_. Right then and there, lips pressed together as Eia stole her breath away, kissing her slave for the first time- that’s when it happened.

No longer was there just a slow little trickle of juice pouring from the dryad’s cunt, she was leaking, **gushing** out of that little quim of hers. Her flower finally blossomed, sex in full bloom, as she was sent into a heat for the wendigo. This right here, between the two of them, this was everything to her. 

She gritted her teeth, moaned, kissed back, and bucked, fighting against it one last time. She lifted her legs, trying to wrap them around the wendigo’s torso and pull the monster off of her before it was too late, before she couldn’t stop herself, before Eia could notice. 

“What did I say about fighting back?” Eia growled, pulling away from the dryad, her hands beating down on the slave’s face as fiercely as the first volley.

“Slaves. Do. Not. Fight. Back.” Each and every word was punctuated by a ferocious slap straight to Alistora’s pretty little face, full force with every strike, punishing her for fighting it. For fighting her **master**.

“I’m So-aauuCKKK!!!” She gagged, opening her pitiful little lips to give Eia an apology, and quickly regretting it.

 **_Pluck_ **. Eia reached her fingers into the dryad’s mouth, and plucked a second fang from her head, rubbing her claws into the empty bleeding spot to make sure that the dryad never bit back again. 

_At least now-_ Her master thought to herself- _Her teeth are symmetrical again~_

And that was when Alistora began to cry, and she did not like to cry, she **never** cried during a fight, not like this. 

_No. no. no. no! No! No!! NO NO NO NO NO!! NO!! NO!!_ **_NO!!_ **

Brinia lurched forwards, unhooking her legs from around her master’s torso, and letting herself be hauled upwards by Eia’s grasp, firmly clenching onto her by the jaw. 

“You like this, don’t you, **plaything?** ”

“Nnngh!!!” Brinia shook her head, tears desperately falling from her cheeks.

 **Smack!!** Another blow straight to her face. Brinia knew not to fight or lie to her master’s face, but she did it anyways, and she deserved what she got in return. 

“My slaves do not lie to their master.”

 **Smack!!** This time to the girl’s cunt, as Eia smacked Brinia directly between the legs and tossed her back onto her back on the floor. 

Eia’s breath was quick and full of excitement as she punished her new slave, delighting in the feeling of breaking in a brand new toy, getting to watch it wiggle and squirm for the very first time. 

_Mine._ Eia grabbed her by the feet and twisted her toes between her fingers, breaking them at the base like her fingers had, keeping her now from being able to get up and run away. _All mine._

“ **Maaaaaaster!!** ” Brinia practically purred for her, needing her owner. Goddess be damned, Brinia wanted her master more than ever. “ **_Pleeeeaaase-_ **”

And Eia **pounced** at that, digging into her prey. Her claws curled around the dryad’s large round breasts, squeezing and battering the pretty little fruits to a pulp, kneading them with her palms. 

Eia went in for another kiss, unable to control herself around the girl any longer, biting down on her little lip. 

“Spread your legs and beg to be raped.”

Brinia’s eyes clamped shut with shame and terror, losing control of her own mind and body along with her master, falling into a helpless heat. “Master-”

Eia snarled, shouting at her this time. “Spread your legs and beg to be raped!!”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!!!!”

“Yes-”

“ **NO!!!!** ”

 **SMACK!!!!** Brinia’s face was met with the single most horrifyingly painful sting of her entire life, commanding her complete and utter obedience. 

“ **Now**.”

“ **_RAPE ME!!!!_ ** ” She squeaked, squealed, and broke- spreading her legs indignantly for the wendigo, overcome with shame. “ **Please!! Fuck, I’m sorry!!! I’m so sorry!!!!** ” Brinia gasped for breath, peeling her crying eyes back open and gazing into the soft spirals of Eia’s irises. “ **Master…** ” 

“Remember this for the rest of your life, my sweet.” Eia dragged Brinia’s thighs apart, burying her cunt in that of her slave. “You belong to me.” 

“Yes-” Brinia arched her back, thrusting upwards, pressing her cunt into Eia’s hand. “Please-”

Eia slammed her hips downwards, crushing her slave’s head beneath her waist, grinding into Alistora’s face as hard as she could, **feeding her**.

Brinia sobbed into her captor’s muff, kissing her beautiful monstrous folds as she pressed her tongue within once again, eating her master inside out, pleasuring her for her own sake. Brinia was desperate for the favor to be returned to her, absolutely spewing sweet juices from her little flower, soaking the floor in pollen. 

Fangs. Deep, sharp, and jagged- all of them digging into the flesh of Alistora’s quim and Eia bit down on her, sucking the delectable sugary juices from her flower, drawing blood from her skin as she chewed, chewing at an orgasm helplessly building up between the folds of Alistora’s thighs. 

The slave was stupid and weak and scared, but she was learning. 

Brinia was learning how to bend and break and scream for her master in all new ways she never dreamed imaginable, left breathless and begging for more as the wendigo’s fangs retracted. 

“Fight and break, Brinia.” The wendigo loomed over her, hungrily bearing down on her slave, her hips pulling away. “Kick and scream and squeal and lose, little girl.” 

Brinia snarled back. “ **Master**!!!!”

Ring clad fingers, curled into a fist, soared straight into Brinia’s soft waiting cunt. “Give me my slave, Alistora. Show me what she’s like~” 

“Please…” She was talking about her, Brinia just knew it, and she couldn’t be happier. “…Master?” 

And neither could Eia. “Yes, my little flower?” 

“Please.” Her broken and battered fingers curled into her own hair, spreading her legs wide, loudly begging for it. “Please rape me…”

Her monster smiled. “With pleasure~” 

Eia stood, her rings glowing as a dazzling white chain connected to Brinia at the throat, dragging her helplessly across the floor, slamming into the wall as her master tossed her onto the bed once more.

Brinia couldn’t stand, she couldn’t even kneel, all she was was being dragged along on the end of her master’s leash, that’s all that mattered anymore. 

Eia had never seen a creature so graciously and gratefully break, and she adored it. She adored every piece of this girl from cracked head to broken toes. 

She climbed on top of her slave, spreading Brinia’s legs and driving her cunt directly into the slaves, twisting the girl’s entire body to get her into just the right position to be spread and mercilessly fucked, exchanging fluids as they spilled out. 

Brinia was so endlessly helpless. 

She was being torn inside out by her own pride, her heart thumping against her own chest. 

Eia wanted her beaten, broken, and humiliated, and the primal sexuality within the dryad wanted it too. And that left the rest of Brinia unable to stop it. 

“I- I- I just don’t get it… How- how can I lose?!” 

Sob heavy words spilled from Brinia’s lips where none should even be capable of forming. 

“I’m so much stronger than this!!!” Brinia curled her broken fingers into the blankets below, shouting out in rage. “I’m so so **so** much stronger than you!!!” 

She was broken, inside and out, taunted by the magical might keeping her furious power locked away inside of her, unable to reach out for her magic. If she had the Hollow’s Heart- if she had her full power- she could win, she knew she could win. 

“I could have killed you!!! I **should** have killed you!!! I should have slaughtered you like a beast but instead you showed me that **filthy disgusting face of yours AND I GAVE!!!** ” Her eyes were filled with furious terror as she gazed into her master’s longingly. “There, are you happy- I was seconds from killing you, but once I saw your stupid face… I gave.”

The two of them just stared at each other, deeply intimate. There were emotions in those two faces that only they could hope to understand.

“You did.” Eia smirked, leaning in for yet another deeply passionate, and emotionally heartbreaking kiss, like the one that they should have shared that night, face to face for the first time, entirely unmasked. “And this is your reward~” 

They didn’t kiss that night, but they were sharing it now, and that meant the world to Brinia. 

“Thank you…” Brinia swallowed her pride, showing her master how grateful she was for her grace and her mercy, the tears rolling from her eyes sweet like honey on Eia’s senses. “Master…” 

“Rub your face in your own shame, dryad. Sing your shortcoming so that I can hear.” Eia hissed, pulling the sweet serenades from the singing flower’s throat, whispers in the wind harmonizing in none other ear but her master’s. “You’re not fit to be an archfey, and you know it~”

“It’s because I’m sentimental and weak… My heart is weak…”

There it was, the sullen shame, the humiliation in her voice. 

“I can’t kill you no matter how strong I am…”

At her core, Brinia Alistora was a monster hunter, she fights ferocious beasts that threaten her lands. She doesn’t kill people. She can’t kill people. 

“You’re soft.” Slam. Eia slammed her hips downwards, forcing a squeal from Brinia’s lips. “Far far too soft… the Eternal Hollow deserves better.” 

“I know, Ma’am!!” She choked, letting out gasps and moans. “I know…” 

“I’m stronger than you, Brinia.” Eia hummed excitedly, delighted to hear the dryad in such shame, flooded by her humiliation. But at the same time, she had a soft spot for the dryad, and it was that soft spot that was keeping the dryad’s cunt hostage beneath her. “If you can’t protect a single village from a single woman like me, then you’re going to be a good girl, sit back, stay at home, and wallow in your own self-pity as you watch me do it for you, understood?” 

“Mmmm… aaaahh~!!” Brinia’s cunt was aching for her master’s, pressing against Eia’s thigh. “Yes, Master!! U-understooood!!”

Another moan was forced from her lips as Eia slammed her hips downwards once more, rewarding her for good behavior. “I am not afraid to kill people, least of all you, and you know it… you’re weak.”

“Master, I- aaUGH!!!” She moaned, her breath drawn thin and wispy. “I know I am!!!!” She bit her lip, tears soaking into her skin. “I can’t kill people, Master!! I couldn’t kill the crucifier!! I couldn’t kill Queen Kulgrantz!! I couldn’t kill the snake lady!! I couldn’t kill Arleena!! And I couldn’t kill you!! That makes you stronger than me!!” 

“Keep it coming, little flower~” Eia teased her with gentleness, rubbing her cunt against Brinia’s, slowly and agonizingly. “Your self debasements are like music to my ears~”

“You’re better than me, Ma’am-” Brinia spat back at her master, pathetically rubbing her flower against Eia’s. “I… I… I’m a good girl, Master…”

Her words thrummed inside of Eia’s ears, bubbling up inside of her master’s loins. The rush she was getting from the girl was just too great to let go of, Brinia Alistora was just too perfect. She was an immensely powerful being locked inside of a sensitive little body, propelled by a weak sentimental little heart that keeps her pacified. 

She could never kill Eia Madaerie. She could never kill her master. 

“You’re my good little girl, Alistora. Soft hearts like yours make better slaves than warriors, if you want to protect them, I need that submission out of you~” Eia ran her fingers over the hard metal collar clasped around the slave’s throat. “Now lay down and be at peace with your new role. You’re right where you belong, so sit still and give yourself to me~”

Brinia hesitated for a moment, caught on her own words, stuck.

“This is where you belong.” But she had Eia there to help her. “Say it.” 

“This is where I belong.” Fuck, there was something too good about letting herself be humiliated like this. “Wherever you tell me to be.”

“Good girl~”

Brinia couldn’t remember the last time that she had orgasmed like this, free from any magical trance, but this was better than anything Eia’s other brides could have given her. 

Their wet folds slapped against each other as Brinia, helplessly pinned beneath her master’s hips, mewled and squealed with pleasure at the crushing shame of losing to a better creature. 

She was a broken woman after this last week, but there was something to be said about having that burden taken from her shoulders. 

“Alright you… Give it to me.” Eia was breathing hard and fast, climbing back to the dryad’s head, just about ready to burst. “This is your **last chance**.”

She lowered her cunt to Brinia’s mouth again, desperate to have the girl’s coarse tongue inside of her again, hungrier and hungrier by the moment.

She grinded her hips against the faerie girl’s face, murmuring with passionate fire as her slave’s tongue hit her inner walls, rubbing up against her, squeezing her clitoris from the inside. 

“Harder girl, harder.” The wendigo bent over, her legs and hips twitching excitedly. She was so close, it was horrifying. “You can do it~”

Eia needed this, badly. For all of her time with her many brides, and she had several of them, Eia didn’t come easily. She neither had the energy or the patience to masturbate, she was too rough. The wendigo was rough with her brides because she needed to be. 

She growled, biting down on Alistora’s sugary sweet quim one last time, hoping and praying it would be enough, and for Brinia- it was. 

Brinia came first, of course she came first, Eia wasn’t about to let her off without a good cunt beating. Her eyes rolled back into her head, back arched as she orgasmed, naturally split into by her master’s teeth and tongue, penetrating her all the way to the cervix. Her breath went thin, her voice went dead silent, and so did Eia. 

Her master’s sex grinded harshly against her mouth, tearing into her with excruciating force. She didn’t even have time to recover from the single most evil orgasm of her entire life, her master wouldn’t let her, not until she was done.

And Eia wasn’t done, not quite yet.

Brinia rocked as she came, face pressed deep into her master’s cunt, and Eia was rocked just as hard. Her bride’s orgasm reverberated into her, pulsing hot in her wet salty quim, tingling with pleasure, shaking her up and down her spine. 

The closest sensation to what Eia was feeling now was the tingling pulses of pleasure that Brinia experienced during her trances, but it wasn’t an orgasm, not quite. That hopefully came next.

She pulled, yanking on the magical chain that connected her to her bride’s collar, forcing her upwards. The wendigo shot straight up, dragging her slave’s tongue along the inner wall of her vagina as she bounced, rough and hard. 

The chain coiled around her wrist as she forced Brinia’s face upwards into her cunt, driving herself into the girls, before raising her hips- shoving her back down onto the bed.

She paused, her breath as fast as it’s ever been as she stared down at Brinia’s waiting, horrified face, desperate to bring the wendigo to orgasm like she had promised she would, trying to show her gratitude. 

Eia smiled, positioning herself for one last drive. “Slave.”

And Brinia looked back up at her, mouth agape, out of breath, like a proper bride should be. “Master?”

Perfection. Absolute perfection. If that face calling out to her master like that wasn’t enough to do it, nothing was.

She drove her hips down, smashing her sex into the dyrad’s face as hard as she could, moments from orgasm. Her tongue slipped back in one last time, eager to give herself over, ready to serve. 

And then finally, Brinia Alistora, desperate to feel her master’s love, bit down on her master’s cunt.

There it was, that did it for her. 

_“_ **_Nnnnghhh… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUWWWWWWWRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!_ ** _”_

Eia came, moaning as loud as she possibly could as she rode out her latest and greatest orgasm, directly onto her slave’s face, feeling her mouth against her sex, salivating for her. The sugar sweet scent stuck to her mouth as she roared with delight, the sounds of sex ringing in her ears as her cunt dove into a merciless climax. 

The sounds of her moans echoed through the entire den, and so did the pleasure of her orgasm, magically spreading from her loins to each of the most important women in her world, including the dryad, her dryad. 

Her slave. 

Her bride. 

The entire den shook, and so did the slave. Alistora couldn’t breathe, but it no longer matter, she could feel her master’s orgasms, shaking her tender pathetic little flower anew, forcing an orgasm up and down her body, an honest to goddess earthquake of pleasure erupting from the collar clasped around her throat, streaking down her entire body and striking her in the cunt, coming alongside her master. 

And it shattered her entire world, replacing it with an entirely new one, her. 

Eia was her world now, and she couldn’t help but love it. 

↞✶↠

And just like that, her life was finally over. 

Or at least she wished it was, anything would be better than this, Brinia Alistora couldn’t recover from this. 

Eia let her lie there, getting rid of her magical restraints, letting her breathe. 

She stood up, walking over to the vanity, shaking in her own fur, drained and destroyed by what she had just finished doing to the dryad. Eia’s eyes wet themselves, crying softly for some reason that she herself didn’t understand. 

Brinia Alistora really was a stronger creature than her master at heart, and Eia Madaerie was lucky to just have her here with her. 

There was a soft thud from behind her, and Eia quickly turned around to discover what it was, unable to see Alistora in the mirror. 

“Slave?” 

Her leg twitched like a rabbit’s, instinctively thumping against the floor in disapproval. Brinia was on the floor now, her limbs shaking, hands and feet broken, down on her palms and knees. 

“I’m okay.” She wasn’t, but she didn’t want Eia to know that, so she lied. “Master-”

“Slave.” She didn’t know what Brinia was up to, but she wasn’t quite going to stop her. “What are you doing?”

“I’m-” The thoughts in her throat revolted her, just about bringing her to vomiting. “I’m going to go make myself pretty for you…”

That made Eia smile. “Are you sure you can handle that?” 

“Yes.” She swallowed, choking on pain. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“There’s a door behind the curtain.” Eia smiled, gesturing towards the wall further into her room, rather than back out into the rest of the chamber. “I have my own water well, use that.” 

Brinia blushed, nodding meekly. “Thank you…”

Eia looked her up and down, recognizing that her fingers and toes were all broken. “Can you walk?” 

“No.” Again, she was very near vomiting. “But I can crawl.” 

“I will be in here if you decide you want help.” Eia turned back around in her seat, facing away from the dryad, hoping it’d make the humiliating job of crawling across the floor just a little bit easier for the slave. “You know how to refer to me.”

“Yes.” She sighed, both amending herself and answering. “Master.” 

Vomiting, grunting, and moaning were all that Eia could hear from the other chamber for the longest of time, and she was patient enough to give the dryad an hour to herself just to recover. But after a good little while, she got too nervous to just let the girl be. 

“Brinia.”

She stepped into the chamber to find the girl, propped up against the wall, barely conscious, but still alive.

“Master.” 

Eia smiled, gently stepping inside with her, leaving the door wide open. “You’ve stopped calling me by my name~”

“Yes, Master…” Brinia frowned, averting her eyes from the wendigo. “I’m sorry.” 

“That’s not something you have to or even should apologize for, slave.” Eia stood in the doorway, looming over her. “How are you feeling?”

“How did I do, Ma’am?” Brinia didn’t answer. “I can try again if I need to, I’m ready-”

“Stop.” Eia held up her paw, silencing her. “Answer my question, little thing.” 

“I’ll be okay.” Brinia’s hands trembled as she lifted them, black and blue from having her fingers snapped at the base. “My healing magic-”

“Your healing magic is disabled, dearie.” Eia frowned, sick to her stomach thinking that Brinia had just been sitting here waiting for it to kick in. “You haven’t just been waiting on that, have you?”

“I-” Brinia stopped, clenching her hand to her chest, tears rupturing from her eyes anew. She clearly had been, and wasn’t very proud of it. “I have.” 

“I put those bruises on you.” Eia smiled, slowly crouching down beside her. “I’ll kiss them better, okay?”

“Yes, Master…” Brinia swallowing, sucking it up for now.

“Let’s get a good look at you then.” Eia ran her fingers through the dryad’s fluffy green, now wet, hair, carefully pulling it from her face. She did not look good in the slightest, not after all of that, and you could tell that it all came from her, her skin having turned black and grey from her injuries. “With all of these bruises, you’d almost think you were the gargoyle.”

Brinia just lowered her gaze, unamused. “Yes, Master…”

Eia sighed, gently placing a single kiss on the dryad’s cheek, just to help her a little bit for tonight. “There, that’s good for the night~”

“Thank you…” Brinia was clearly still quite annoyed with her injuries, but she realized she wasn’t in any position to make demands, so she was just grateful to get what she got. “You aren’t going to hurt my people because of my actions tonight, are you?” 

Eia frowned, gently brushing all of the dryad’s hair out of her face. “If I did, could you blame me?”

“No, Master.” 

“Then don’t concern yourself with it.”

“Yes, Master.” Brinia sighed, the tears welling up in her eyes again. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” Eia shook her head, smiling at the girl. “That’s enough apologies.”

“But what about-”

“You did your best, that’s all that matters.” Eia smiled, taking Brinia’s shattered hand into hers. “Now let it be.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The dryad let her palm be taken, helpless to prevent it. “Thank you…”

“Of course~” Eia cooed, releasing her hand from her grasp. “Do you need help getting into bed?” 

“No.” Brinia shook her head, unable to take any more indignation. “No, Master… please…” 

“I’ll await you in bed, take your time.” Eia stood back up, leaving the door and curtain parted for her. “Need anything else?”

A silent shake of her head, and nothing else. 

“Meet me in bed when you’re ready then.”

An equally silent nod, less enthusiastic than the last. 

If that wasn’t enough to get Brinia to her side, then nothing was. The dryad got her master to herself for the night, hell- she got her master to herself for the next week, and if she wanted to take it slow, her master would let her. 

“Go easy on yourself, honey.” 

Brinia was struggling on her feet, but she was walking, painfully, on broken toes. “I can do it… Master.”

The blankets parted for her without her asking, and Eia let her collapse into the bed beside her, curling up on the edge, right about to fall off and shatter the rest of her bones, but unable to endure any more closeness with the wendigo for the night. 

She closed her eyes and looked away, hoping her master would ignore her, but she didn’t.

Eia reached over to her slave, and instead of pulling her close, beating her, or eliciting any more pleasure from her for the night, gently placed her mask onto the dryad’s face. 

For protection. 

“Hang tight, Alistora.” Eia smiled, making sure her slave knew she was there. “It’s going to be oh-”

Before she could even finish, the dryad had gone through the painstaking effort of rolling over into her arms, gently beginning to sob behind the mask, where she felt it was safe. “Fennecca.”

“She’s safe for now.” Eia held Brinia there in her arms. “I promise.” 

Brinia let out a sigh of relief, shaking in Eia’s grasp. “Thank you…” 

“You did amazing tonight.” Eia gently stroked the slave’s back. “I’m proud of you~”

“Yes, Master…” She sniffled, curling up against the wendigo’s chest. 

“Good girl~” 

“Master-” Brinia shook her eyes free of tears, staring closely at her master’s torso, taking in the sight of the enormous gash scar across her belly. It was something that Eia usually kept tucked away, and for good reason, because Alistora’s eyes went wide at the sight of it. “Madaerie..." 

“Shhhhh…” She tucked the dryad’s head into her chest. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.” 

Brinia shuddered, swallowing nervously as she closed her eyes, pressing her head to her master for support. “Y-y-yes, M-Master…”

“Goodnight, slave…”

Brinia shuddered, losing herself to her sobs as she laid there, in the monster’s arms. “Goodnight, Master…” 

**Author's Note:**

>   
>   
>   
>   
>  Thought I'd maybe put a little list of character's at the very end just to keep track of them:  
>  **Eia Madaerie** \- Wendigo, Ruler of the Eternal Hollow  
>  _Eia’s Bride:_ **Brinia Alistora** \- Dryad, Eia’s newest bride, Former guardian of the Eternal Hollow  
>  _Eia’s Bride:_ **Izona Killtree** \- Pseudo-giant, Handmaiden  
>  _Eia’s Bride:_ **Cerilla Najistrae** \- Hobgoblin, Den mother  
>  _Eia’s Bride:_ **Arleena Darkstyle** \- Wraith, Hunter/gatherer  
>  _Eia’s Bride:_ **Kulgrantz Zaikana** \- Ifrit, Domestic, Former queen of the Flaming Sea  
>  _Eia's Bride:_ **Noriza Strongarm** \- Yeti, Breeder  
>  _Eia's Bride:_ **Iznittet Tishula** \- Medusa, Former lord of the fog wastes  
>  _Eia's Bride:_ **Demmara Lionheart** \- Sphinx  
>  _Eia's Bride:_ **Marima Lionheart** \- Mermaid  
>  _Eia's Bride:_ **Valonda** \- Harpy  
>   
>   
>  **Fennecca Alistora** \- Coyote Minx, Brinia's adopted daughter  
>  **Zawdra Nightingale** \- Gargoyle, Lady Protector of Thorn  
>  **Ollik Killtree** \- Goliath, former guardian of the frosted forest, deceased  
>  **Norko Strongarm** \- Yeti, daughter of Noriza/Nurzickka Strongarm  
> 


End file.
